The Forge
by DizzyFraley
Summary: A Dust-obsessed inventor, a quiet oddball, a bruiser with a temper, and a perfect student to tie them all together. The members of Team SBLE are going to have to deal with a few obstacles during their second year at Beacon, including monsters, criminals, terrorists, freshmen, and the cousins of their team leader. And an odd dream will continue haunt four students this year.
1. An Interesting Night

**AN: If you haven't yet, please read my one-shot prologue, Damocles, before reading this. Otherwise, you may be a bit confused with some of the AU scenes.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, nor any of its characters. They belong to Roosterteeth and the late Monty Oum, may he rest in peace.**

* * *

Ruby was bored, to say the least. She hadn't had much to do today, what with she and Yang wrapping up their trip into Vale. Yang had said that she wanted to get to know the city better before she left to attend Beacon Academy. They rode into the city three days ago and ended up bunking with their cousin Shen, a student about to start his second year at Beacon.

To her credit, Yang had spent plenty of time with her sister, while Shen acted as their tour guide for the city. He showed them his favorite restaurants and shops, and even gave them a chance to catch up another friend of theirs, a member of the same training team as their cousin. But earlier that night, Yang had vanished on her bike, worrying Ruby and their cousin to no end. A couple hours later, they ended up receiving a call from a local police station on the other side of the city.

Yang had gotten into a brawl with a local gang at their boss' nightclub, trashing the place in the process and leaving most of the gang with bruises and broken bones. She was being held in custody while the police sorted out the whole incident. It didn't take Ruby and Shen ten minutes before they made it to the station. While Shen tried to sort out the whole event and make a few calls, Ruby elected to get some fresh air and wander around the area for a bit.

Her little trek took her to a little shop by the name of _From Dust Till Dawn_ , a small Hunter supply store run by a kindly old man. She ended up buying a new set of over-ear headphones and an album by some small time rock artist to help pass the time, spending the next twenty minutes browsing around the store. It was while she was checking out the latest issue of _Weapons Magazine_ that her night took an interesting turn.

A gloved hand roughly spun her around, with Ruby coming to face a large man dressed in a black and red suit, with matching hat and shades. He was mouthing something, but it was impossible to hear over the music blaring in her ears. She removed the headphones after he started pointing at his ears, finally hearing what he was trying to say.

"Yes?" She knew what was going on, but wanted to keep some element of surprise to this. _"Just play innocent for now Ruby. Wait for the right moment."_

"I said, put your hands in the air now!" He looked more annoyed than angry, but it was impossible to tell past the glasses. She decided to keep up the façade. "Are you…robbing me?"

"Yes!" "Ooooh."

* * *

Roman Torchwick's night was going swimmingly up to a point. The men he had rented from Junior were doing their job well enough, intimidating any passerby, grabbing all of the Dust within sight, and doing their best to keep any wannabe heroes causing any trouble.

Then Red showed up.

The little red reaper with her big scary scythe, scaring the boys and wiping the pavement with their faces. A fancy spin move flinging the last guy into the sidewalk was all the encouragement Roman need to decide it was best to cut and run. Putting out his cigar on the sidewalk, he confidently strode up and pointed the tip of his cane at the little red brat.

"Well, Red, I think we can say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid that this is where we part ways." With that parting remark, Melodic Cudgel opened up and let loose one of its trademark explosive flares at Ruby. It was at the moment before impact that Ruby launched herself upwards to avoid the shot, giving Roman the chance he needed to make a break for it. As she came back down and reoriented herself, she spied Roman scaling a fire escape on a nearby building.

 _"How did he get over there? I didn't even hear him move."_

The old shopkeeper appeared in the doorway behind, looking tired and frightened, but otherwise unharmed. After making sure he was safe, Ruby took off after the fleeing criminal, reaching the roof just as he made it to the opposite edge. She quickly attempted to get his attention back on her, but he just kept his back to her, mumbling something under his breath.

"Persistent…"

Seemingly out of nowhere, a Bullhead VTOL rose from the streets, opening its bay door to grant him entrance, while the aircraft's floodlights were trained on the young girl. The advantage his once more, Roman turned towards Ruby, a red Dust crystal in hand.

"End of the line, Red!" Roman shouted over the roar the engines. With an underhand toss, he threw the crystal at Ruby's feet, quickly following up with a flare from his cane. Ruby barely had any time to react before the two explosives connected, only able to take a few steps back before something came between her and a very painful evening. Something dressed in a skirt and blouse, with an odd-looking cape accenting the whole ensemble. A tall, blonde, bespectacled woman, exuding an aura of cold efficiency.

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch wasn't expecting her night to suddenly become so busy. First, she was interrupted while in a meeting with the other professors, being called into town to deal with an incoming student that'd made a mess (to put it lightly) at a nightclub. Then, she overheard a police report of a series of Dust robberies happening while the Xiao Long girl was giving her statement to the investigators. Confident that Ms. Xiao Long was in good hands and not in too much trouble with the police, she had decided to try and track down the thieves while the night was young. When she arrived at the latest crime scene, she found what looked to be a Huntress trainee about to get herself blown off a roof by a wanted felon riding a VTOL that had no business being there.

Needless to say, her evening had not gone nearly as expected.

Producing a glyph shield between her and the explosion was child's play, as was the follow-up. After adjusting her glasses, a simple swipe of her riding crop sent a flurry of glyph bolts after the aircraft, rattling it and its passengers, while barely denting the hull. Stumbling around the passenger hold while managing to keep from falling out the open door, Roman made it to the pilot's cabin. "We've got a Huntress!" he told his partner. With a practiced efficiency, they swapped places; Roman took the controls of the Bullhead while his companion moved to get a view of outside.

Glynda didn't wish to give her targets a chance to recover. Charging power into her crop, she sent a bolt of violet light into the sky above the Bullhead, generating a cover of dark clouds, the telltale sound and flashes of lightning playing within them. A downward swipe of the crop called down a hail of icicles, peppering the hull with a number of spikes and even managing to pierce the windshield of the cockpit, nearly striking Roman in the shoulder.

Roman's companion was entering the passenger hold at this point, her glass heels clinking on the metal hull. As the two women faced off, the stranger's hands lit up with a brilliant, intense flame, weaving sparks together until a bolt of fire struck out at the Huntress, who quickly repelled the blast with another shield. As flame scattered from the barrier, embers embedded themselves into the roof, glowing darkly.

The stranger thrust a fiery palm upwards, signaling her flames to condense under Glynda and violently burst up. A backflip at the last moment was all that saved her from being incinerated on the spot, quickly recovering in order to form the debris into a single, large spear of glowing stone, slag, and glass. A series of fire bolts dispersed the spear, only for it to reform in an instant. A tilt of the VTOL, courtesy of Roman's piloting, prevented the stranger from receiving injury, though the vehicle was not entirely unscathed, taking on a new series of dents and gashes on the outer hull.

Another set of hand motions from Glynda commanded the debris to begin to surround the VTOL in another attempt to bring it down. The stranger would not have that; her eyes and the markings on her clothes glowed a bright gold as she brought her arms together, a series of runes encircling her. As she swept both arms outwards, a wave of heat and flame reduced the incoming debris to ash.

* * *

As the ashes fell, something began to stir in Ruby's mind. A memory, fuzzy, barely understandable, something that could have been mistaken for an overactive imagination. A memory of a shadow, two figures descending into darkness, and a voice that would have brought a normal person to their knees.

 _"A woman wreathed in flame… flame and piercing golden eyes."_

"Wreathed in flame…" she was lost in her own world at this point, the memory overriding everything else. But as she tried to reach for it, to bring more of the dream to the surface, it vanished. Her senses still returning, she had yet to remember where she was before the stranger began her counterattack. A sweep of her right hand gathered flame in a series of columns below the two figures on the roof.

Glynda was forced to knock Ruby forward before dodging on her own, singeing the tails of her cape in the process. As she regained her bearings, the bay doors of the Bullhead closed and the airship flew into the distance, out of their range entirely. From behind her, Glynda heard the young girl rise to her feet, before the girl spoke to her for the first time. It began with a simple comment, full of respect and awe.

"You're a Huntress."

What followed, in Glynda's opinion, had to be one of the worst questions to ask at the time.

"Can I have your autograph?"

* * *

Shen Xiao Long thought of himself as a patient man, somewhat quick witted, generally an easy-going kind of guy.

Not the sort of person one would expect to find nervously pacing back and forth inside a police station in downtown Vale in the middle of the night, muttering to himself all the while. His lean, nearly six foot tall frame hardly made a noise while he paced, even when he was wearing his combat boots. His shoulder length, dirty-blonde hair was in a greater mess than usual, what with all the hair pulling and hand running it had seen that night. What was normally an olive complexion was paler than usual. His yellow-green eyes were darting all over the lobby with worry.

Not that his worry was unjustified to say the least. He and Yang had practically just finished up with the mess she had made earlier, only for him to receive a message from Professor Goodwitch regarding his **other** cousin, who had the luck (bad or otherwise) of: getting caught up in a Dust robbery being committed by one of Vale's most notorious criminals, stopping said robbery before chasing after said criminal, being saved from a Dust explosion by the professor, watching the professor face off against what had to be a very dangerous opponent, and then being saved a second time from an even larger explosion.

Goodwitch had taken Ruby to a different police station before informing Shen about the situation. At that point, the last thing he wanted to deal with was a worried, potentially angry Yang, so he lied, told her Ruby was on her way home, and sent Yang off while he stayed behind to "finish up the paperwork." He figured once the dust settled with Ruby, Yang would be relatively easy to placate. Once he'd heard Yang's bike speed off, he took off in the opposite direction towards the station Ruby was at. As he entered the station, he managed to catch a glimpse of Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy, entering what he could only assume to be the room they were holding his cousin in.

When Shen attempted to gain entrance, the officer at the desk stopped him. "Sorry, kid. Guy wants to have a chat with her. Not sure what she did to get in trouble with the Hunters, but I really don't want to get in their way. Blondie in there looked like she was about to skin me with that glare of hers."

That exchange lasted for about three minutes, before Shen gave up and started his pacing. That was about half an hour ago. Might as well have been five hours for him. Yang had called multiple times at that point. He assumed that most of them were attempts to figure out what was going on. He was just about to sit down when he heard the interrogation door open, the endings of a conversation pouring outwards.

"I expect your forms and transcripts to be in the mail sometime within the next few days, understood." Ozpin, Shen recognized. He must have been talking to Ruby. But what were they talking about? Forms? Transcripts?

Time seemed to slow to a crawl for Shen. All that he knew about Ozpin, the events of the evening, Ruby, they all came crashing forward to a single conclusion.

 _"He invited her. He wants to move her ahead in the curriculum. He wants her to attend Beacon this year."_

For what felt like a minute or so to Shen, all he could think of was what he was going to tell her father, before his train of thought slowed back down, able to hear Ruby's hurried response to the professor.

"They'll be finished before I go to sleep tonight, sir! I mean Professor! I mean…"

"Calm down, Ruby. I know you'll do fine. Come along Glynda, it's getting late." With that, Ozpin, his assistant, and Ruby left the room entirely, heading towards Shen. As they approached, Ozpin addressed the Hunter-in-training before him.

"Mr. Xiao Long, good to see you again. I hope you and your team do well in the coming year. And don't worry about your family. I'm certain they'll perform magnificently at this year's initiation. And say hello to your father for me, I haven't heard from him in months." With that, he turned towards the door, Glynda following close behind. Before she completely exited, she turned back to Shen, offering a bit of advice.

"I recommend you keep a better eye on your cousins. They cause enough trouble separately. I shudder to imagine what they could do to campus together."

Shen turned around to see his cousin, lips quivering, tears of joy brimming in her silver eyes, her body shaking with what had to be excitement, and a smile wider than the city walls was breaking across her face. In a rare moment, his mind was blank. He had no real idea on what to say. So he just went with the first thing that popped up.

"So, I take it we're all going to Beacon?"

Her squeal of joy was heard for miles.

* * *

As the professors rode the shuttle back to the academy, Glynda reflected on a part of the interview with Ms. Rose. Up to a point in the fight with the stranger, Ruby had been reacting in a manner befitting a Huntress trainee, skillfully keeping out of the way of a battle between two powerful foes. Up until the moment wherein the stranger dispelled Glynda's last attack. Following that action, Ruby had frozen; her eyes had glazed over as though her mind was pulled to another location. Glynda had been forced to make the trainee dodge the stranger's counterattack before she snapped back to consciousness.

When questioned about it, all Ruby could say was that the sight reminded her of a dream she'd had a couple weeks prior. She could barely remember said dream, only the fact that she had the dream, that there were three other people she couldn't recognize in that dream, and that a part of it had seemingly come true. It didn't sit right with Glynda; she noticed that her superior had a similar look on her face.

"You're thinking about it, aren't you sir? What she said about that dream."

Broken from his contemplation, Ozpin looked at his dean of students. "More than that."

Confusion crossed Glynda's face, "What do you mean?"

He turned to face the window before he responded, staring out at the Emerald Forest as it passed by. "The last occurance was many years ago, before many of our comrades graduated, before I even entered Beacon's halls. But this is not the first case I have heard of such dreams visiting Hunters. To those aware of the phenomenon, those dreams serve as a warning. A sign that something that hasn't seen our walls in decades, even centuries, may be approaching. And such dreams rarely fail to come true."

She had known Ozpin long enough to understand that he believed everything he was saying at this point. As one of the leaders of the Hunters, he was privy to large collection of knowledge and secrets.

"So how do we respond to this warning?"

Sighing, Ozpin turned back to face his companion. "As far as Ms. Rose is concerned, we can only wait for more of her memories to come back, or for another dream to occur. Aside from that, we need to find the others from her dream. They may have the clues we need to piece this together."

And with that, the trip back to Beacon continued in silence.

* * *

 **AN: Dizzy here! This first chapter came together faster than I thought it would. And longer too. Still, I like to think it's a good start. Next chapter, I'll introduce the rest of team SABR to you guys.**

 **Bit of forewarning, I won't be showing every canon scene from the first and second season, as I'm trying to focus more the adventures and mishaps of my OC's. Teams RWBY and JNPR, as well as CFVY will all get their time to shine, don't worry.**

 **I'll try to get the next update out as soon as possible. And please, don't be afraid to review, I would love to hear your input on the story. It helps us all when we do so.**

 **Here's to season 3 finally coming out!**


	2. Late Arrivals

For most people that day, Beacon Academy's most recent initiation exam was one for the record books.

Many within the current crop of candidates entering the prestigious combat school had demonstrated incredible skill and power. The one and only Pyrrha Nikos had her moment to shine, pinning a boy to a tree from hundreds of yards away and leading a Deathstalker on an incredible chase. The Schnee heiress made her public debut and did not fail to impress, blocking the strikes from several large Grimm and trapping a Giant Nevermore on the roof of a temple. A young man from Vale managed to destroy a large King Taijitu with his bare hands. The latest member of the famous Arc family, though pitiful in straight-up combat from the looks of it, managed to lead himself and three others to victory against the Deathstalker. One young woman from the up-and-coming Xiao Long family of Hunters ended up slamming a giant Nevermore into a cliff, before her child prodigy of a sister was launched by the Schnee heiress into the winged beast's neck, followed by said prodigy dragging the beast up the side of the cliff by the blade of her scythe (a rare weapon that many watching had never seen in action before) until she decapitated it through sheer force.

By all rights, everyone attending the final ceremony for initiation should have been smiling, giddy, cheering, showing some positive emotion. Two students towards the back of the crowd, near the entrance of the auditorium, showed no such emotion.

If one were to take a glance at them, they would have seen quite the odd couple.

On the left was a young man by the name of Andres Hakkon Lordren. Large by Beacon's standards, standing at about 6'7" and broad in the shoulders, he was someone that would have had a very difficult time not standing out in a crowd, when one took his size into account with his dark complexion, piercing red eyes, angular features set in what seemed to be a permanent scowl, and jet black hair done up in a simple wolf's tail. His choice of outfit didn't help either: gunmetal grey armor adorned most of his body, with the plates on his chest and the upper portions of his limbs matching what could be assumed to be the details of his muscles. The boots and gauntlets were blockier in appearance, seemingly meant more for defense than aesthetics. Rounded pauldrons and a raised portion of the breastplate accented the armor, giving it an even larger appearance. If one looked over his shoulder, they would have seen the handle for what was certainly a large sword, with at least a foot for the handle and another five feet for the blade itself. Covering the sword on his back was a large tower shield, just slightly longer than the blade of the sword.

A young woman, who went by Sephria Brom, stood on the right. Unlike her companion, she was… average, to say the least. A brunette with a slight hint of copper to her hair, which was done up in a single braid that hung over her shoulder, she stood at around 5'8", and was passively staring out at the crowd with bored hazel eyes, while the more rounded features of her face remained barren of emotion. She wasn't necessarily unattractive, but she wasn't someone who would automatically turn heads wherever she went. She wasn't the sort of girl to pay any mind to that sort of attention anyhow. She was dressed rather simply too, when compared with some of her associates; a dark blue, tight-fitting long-sleeve with a few pieces of brown leather armor covering the shoulders and chest was coupled with a pair of skintight black pants, with armor insets for the shins and outer thighs. Around her neck was a black scarf, the symbol of an eye adorning one end. On her feet, she wore what could barely be called shoes; they were solid matte black, went up past her ankles, looked to be incredibly thin, and had a design that seemed to separate the big toe from the rest of the foot. On her lower back hung what looked to be a small quiver, though no arrows could be seen in it. The adornments on her arms were about the only thing that could have drawn someone's attention. She wore a curious pair of silver bracers; at a first glance, they seemed a little too large for her, with segmented armor plates completely covering her forearms, and extending slightly past both the wrist and elbow. However, if one were to see her hands, they would have noticed a pair of armored gloves, fingers tipped with sharp claws.

While the newest initiates to Beacon Academy were called onstage and presented with their new team members and team names, the young man looked as though he wanted to break something, his scowl occasionally interrupted by a snarl of frustration. His eyes were constantly roaming around the auditorium, as though he were searching for something. If you listened closely, you could hear the shaking of one of his legs, the clanking of his heel on the ground, and the slow tap of his fingers on an armored bicep.

The outward appearance, as it turned out, wasn't too bad of a tell as to his general demeanor. The knight was getting impatient and worried, and his temper, famous among the second year students, was getting close to a boiling point. About the only things holding him back were the knowledge of his punishment if he were to cut loose, the fact that he didn't want to actually lose his temper, and the presence of his teammate, who didn't mind listening to his ranting. At times, it felt as though ranting was one of the few things the young man could safely do to control his anger. So for the past hour or so, he just talked while his teammate passively listened.

* * *

"They're late," the man said, his voice coming out in a low growl.

The woman just kept watching the initiation.

"They were supposed to be here three hours ago. His damn cousins are going to be coming onstage soon, he wouldn't shut up about them getting the chance to come here for the past week, and when those two girls finally show up and pass with flying colors, both of those bozos have the nerve to late."

The woman just shrugged, never breaking eye contact with the stage.

"I bet his cousins haven't even realized he didn't show up to watch their performance. Maybe we can take turns throttling them when they finally decide to show up."

The woman finally broke her stare to look at the man in the corner of her eye.

"I know. It probably isn't Shen's fault. Guy's never late for anything when it's just him we're talking about. Errol's the one who's always getting him into trouble, so he's the one getting the earful. And a swift kick in the ass. Might even do him some good, put some of those gears in his head back in the right place."

Looking back at the stage, the woman simply, and gently, elbowed her friend in the side.

"Okay, shesh. I'll just give him the usual. Maybe scare him a little this time. But you're helping me with that, got it Seph?"  
Still watching the stage, she uncrossed her arms briefly to give him a thumbs up.

* * *

As the afternoon shuttle touched down at Beacon's northern landing pad, the rest of campus was practically silent. Said silence was broken when the shuttle's doors opened up, depositing its scant few passengers; two of which were currently making their way towards the auditorium, while engaged in an argument of sorts.

"How is it MY fault we missed the morning shuttle? You weren't home when I came by to pick you up!" Shen was trying to keep his temper down; after the morning he'd had, he just wanted to get inside and see his friends and family again. A zipped-up, grey turtleneck jacket with dark green lining the undersides of the arms and the sides of his torso covered his entire upper body, while a pair of dark-blue jeans covered his legs. Dull grey greaves and a belt holding a number of fairly large bullets accented the outfit, while at the same time acting as a place to keep his weapons.

If one were to see his back, they would find a large pistol, which looked as though it could only hold a single shot. On his left was an arming sword, the blade sitting at 30" long and 2.5" wide, with a black, leather-bound hilt, bronze coloration for the simple cross guard, and a bronze pommel shaped like a raindrop, sitting in a brown leather scabbard with simple metal decorum. On his right was a 33" long jian; a thinner blade than his other one, with ragged black cloth covering the hilt, an almost non-existent steel guard, and a disc-shaped pommel about 3.5" wide. Covering his forehead was a black bandana, tied around his head and angled so that a symbol of a cloud with a blade running through it was prominent on the left side.

"I told you, I've been working on my latest project. You know I never work with Dust at home. Too many distractions and contaminants. Plus, Mom threatened to dismantle my equipment if I did any experiments at home again."

Errol Ramkin was small, to put it lightly. Standing at about 5'5", he honestly looked as though his body's mass had been stretched out as far as possible, if his thin limbs and neck were anything to go by. His silver hair was in a completely tangled mess, with bangs hanging over his face. His turquoise eyes, heavy bags sagging underneath them, were completely focused on a brown notebook covered in what looked to be a watertight casing, and with his pale skin, he looked as though he hadn't seen the sun in months. His clothing looked as though it had seen better days as well. A white long coat covered most of his body, though said coat was saturated with burn marks and faint stains of other colors. Underneath the coat, he wore a simple, white, button-up shirt with a dark blue vest, and pair of plain khaki trousers for his legs. A pair of horn-rimmed glasses adorned his face, with somewhat thick lenses and a turtle shell design for the rims.

Two devices were attached to his back. On his upper back, a twin-barreled rifle sat attached to what looked to be a magnetic strip, with the rifle's grip sitting behind his left shoulder, in a position that he could easily reach it with his left hand. The rifle was somewhat large, taking up a good portion of his back, with a blocky shape that made it look almost comical in its size. It was decorated in a forest green color, with faint black lines running along the length of the weapon. On its underside, an empty slot where one could fit a large caliber magazine was empty, while on its right hand side, a strange pair of what looked to be empty light bulb sockets were found. On his lower back, one could see a small plastic backpack of sorts resting on another magnetic strip. On the lower right hand side of the pack, a small number pad sat with a circular hole sitting just beneath it.

"Errol, I know about your workshop. I helped you move all of your equipment there. Also, I specifically remember us having a conversation last week about me picking you up at your mother's apartment so we could head over to the airfield and meet up with Coco before catching the morning shuttle. And, I do remember you mentioning a project, but again, that was last week."

"And I've been working on said project all that time. Only left the workshop for food and supplies. I never told you I went back home, did I?" Errol never broke the gaze on his notebook as he continued conversing with his longtime friend.

All Shen could do at that point was pinch the bridge of his nose and shake his head. "So that's why you smell like a garbage dump. Did you even sleep at all this week?"

"An hour or so every other day, but that's about it. The research was too important, sleep just wastes my time." A grin started to stretch across Errol's face as he closed his notebook and slid it into a pocket in his coat. "Besides, I finally made the breakthrough; I have a completed formula. All it needs is some field testing and we're good to go."

Shen's expression morphed from exasperation to joyful shock in an instant. "You actually figured it out? And it does exactly want you said it would do?"

With pride in his voice, Errol responded, "Of course. Once I get my hands on the tools in the labs here, I can make viable rounds for you, Seph, and myself. And with this Dust formula, we don't have to worry about seriously hurting anyone during a duel. You could even use it with Shèshǒu or Detritus' solid rounds and it wouldn't leave a permanent scar."

As they approached the entrance to the main auditorium, Shen shifted his gaze forward. "This is great news, but you're still not off the hook. If we missed Ruby and Yang's team assignment, I will be getting payback. And I would suggest watching your back for a while anyway. Andres' probably pretty pissed at us for being late."

* * *

As Shen and Errol entered the auditorium, they were greeted with the sight of a massive crowd of students observing the new freshmen teams receiving their official names and members. All the while, Ozpin's voice echoed across the room.

"—ssel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL. Led by… Cardin Winchester." As Ozpin finished rattling off the new team's leader, Shen could see a cocky smirk break across the young man's face as he led his new team offstage. _"Well, we have the typical jerk-with-authority of the class."_

Shen remembered Dove and Sky from his days at Signal; they weren't the best fighters in their class, but were far from the worst. They were also the best of friends, as far as he knew from his scant interactions with them in the past. Most of said interactions involved Shen having to keep them from picking on Errol or one of the Faunus underclassmen every now and then.

As Team CRDL left the stage, four newcomers took their places, with Shen giving them a quick scan as they filed into place. The blonde was nervous beyond belief; it was a miracle he was even standing given how shaken he seemed. _"Twenty lien says he's bully fodder this year."_ The redhead he easily recognized as Pyrrha Nikos. _"We might be in for some fun sparring matches this year, if she's as good as the rumors say."_ The boy in green was stoic, not giving away any emotion from his body language. _"Great, another brick wall. As if this school needs another strong and silent type._ " The giddy girl in pink was barely holding in her excitement, looking ready to bounce across the stage and back at a moment's notice. _"Aaand another girl with too much energy in her system."_ As Ozpin was beginning the next formal initiation, Shen quickly scanned over the audience looking for any familiar faces, before resting his eyes on the tallest head in the crowd, which happened to be standing next to a pair of rabbit ears, a shock of maroon hair, and a black beret. Grabbing Errol's collar, he wormed his way through the crowd as Ozpin named the initiates.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR. Led by… Jaune Arc." As the ginger grabbed her green-clad friend in a bear hug and the newly minted leader of Team JNPR was quite literally floored by a friendly slug from his partner, Shen and Errol managed to reach their targets.

Team CFVY was applauding the new team when the two friends stumbled into sight. This was followed with Coco lowering her trademark shades, sending a glare in their direction that Shen did not fail to catch. For him, it was easy to interpret. _"Neither of you are sneaking away after this. Got it?"_ All Shen could do was nervously smile and wave at her, before turning his attention to the stage, finally seeing his cousins and their partners take their places.

From what he could tell, Ruby was showing a more mature look of calm on her countenance, something Shen hadn't seen in a long time. _"Looks like initiation might have taught her a few things."_ The Schnee girl was impassive, a slight frown on her face with her chin held at a barely upward angle. _"She's probably going to be a pain to deal with for a while. How long will depend on who gets the chance to knock her off her high horse."_ The other girl was stoic as well, but Shen could tell there was some joy behind that mask she wore. _"Might be my vision messing with me, but I could have sworn that bow just twitched a little. I should probably keep my eye on that one."_ Yang was positively beaming, a kind smile gracing her face. _"Well, at least they'll be easier to keep tabs on, with both of them being on the same team. Wonder how long it'll be before their partners break from the insanity?"_

"And finally, Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. And Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by… Ruby Rose."

As the Schnee heiress's face broke open with shock and Yang happily embraced her sister, Shen and Errol joined the audience in applauding as loudly as possible, only interrupting their clapping for the occasional whistle or holler. With the team initiations finally complete, Shen and Errol joined Team CFVY in leaving the auditorium, making their way towards the courtyard. It was when they reached one of the central plazas that Coco suddenly whirled around and grabbed Shen and Errol's collars, dragging them towards her eye level.

"Where the hell were you two this morning?" Her voice, though calm on the surface, held a great deal of anger and imminent pain.

"Well…" "I was…"

"I waited at the airfield for you guys for 30 minutes. I almost missed my shuttle because of you idiots. So, Shen, what happened?" She punctuated her inquiry by promptly dropping their hindquarters onto the pavement, not breaking her gaze all the while.

Blushing, Shen was barely able to squeak out his response. "Well, you see, Errol was…"

Coco immediately turned towards Errol. "Let me guess, another one of your stupid projects?"

Indignation crossed his face as the young man retorted, "Hey! My projects are not 'stupid.' They saved your lives during last years initiation, if I may point out."

It was Fox's turn to speak up this time. "That same device nearly killed both of our teams, remember?"

Pouting, all the silver-haired boy could respond was with a reluctant, "Well it didn't. Why do you all keep bringing that up?"

Interjecting himself back into the conversation at this point, Shen stood up and attempted to placate his friends. "C'mon guys, why don't we just head inside? Errol and I'll pick up the tab for dinner tonight and you'll get the full story while we eat. Deal?"

Taking a moment to give her teammates a brief, questioning glance, Coco merely nodded her consent, before a hand grabbed the back of Errol's shirt and lifted him off the ground. Finally noticing his other teammates behind him, Shen gave them a warm greeting.

"Andres, Seph. Where were you two? I didn't see you anywhere in the auditorium."

Still frowning while Errol squirmed and yelped in his grip, Andres spoke up. "We _were_ waiting for you, when the two of us decided to think on how we should get back at Errol for making us wait. So we followed you all out here and waited for the right moment. And since he stinks so much right now, I've decided to give him a bath."

Realizing what was about to happen, Errol's writhing only increased as he pled with Andre. "Andres, come on man. Please?"

As Errol spoke, Andres turned towards the large reflection pools running along the walkway towards the airfield. "C'mon, there's sensitive equipment on me. At least let me get Detritus and Ankh to safety."

Ignoring his cries, the knight reared back the arm holding his friend and tensed his muscles. "Andres, if you do this, I swear I…"

Unfortunately, no one, save for the voices in Errol's head, heard the end of his statement as Andres hurled him into the air above one of the pools, with Errol landing smack dab in the center. As Errol came back up, sputtering and hollering obscenities, Shen and the others, save for Sephria, laughed at his misfortune. And as the sun began to set, Shen began to wonder just how interesting the rest of the year was going to be.

* * *

 **AN: Dizzy here. Sorry if I kept you guys waiting. I know this chapter's a little heavy on the character descriptions, but I wanted to paint a nice picture for you all. I will be updating the OC bios on my profile page after this posting, so check that out; it might help you to better imagine what each character looks like.**

 **Next chapter, Teams RWBY and JNPR meet the full Team SABR, and we see some training battles between the first and second years. Who is fighting? Well, that's a secret. Until next time!**


	3. Introductions and Duels

It would be a few days before teams RWBY and JNPR would cross paths with their upperclassmen. Even then, Shen and his friends had intended to give the freshmen their space for the first few days; to let them make their own friends and find their own activities, before introducing themselves. At least, that was Shen's excuse. In reality, he was afraid of how they would react to his teammates. While he knew they were good people and fun to hang around with, Shen was aware of just how off-putting his teammates could be, even on a good day. Andres was more than likely to start a fight with Yang or Weiss, depending on whom he spoke with first. Sephria's silence would only come across as rudeness, while Errol would probably just try to drag the freshmen into a conversation only a Schnee would be able to follow. But today, Shen had run out of excuses; today was the first day for the melee combat courses.

* * *

It was a little after 10 am when the students were released to go to their next classes. As the hallways filled with students, trainees headed towards the combat arena began to converge with one another, with the freshmen sharing their thoughts over what the next class was going to be like. The members of RWBY and JNPR were no exception to this rule.

"Well, from what Shen told us, the types of fights vary from day to day. Sometimes its one-on-one, other times its doubles or full team matches. My guess, it probably depends on Professor Goodwitch's mood." Yang was sharing her information with Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Weiss as they neared the arena. At the opposite end of the hallway, they were able to spy the other members of their teams having what may have been a similar conversation. But Nora's excited outbursts covered up whatever conversation the others might have had.

"So we finally get to meet some second years! Oh, and your cousin! What's he like? Is he handsome? Is he a good fighter? Is he one of those upperclassmen that bully the younger students? Oh, does he know what sound a sloth makes? I need to settle a bet with Ren." Before she could continue, Weiss interjected with her own thoughts on the subject.

"If he's anything like his cousins, I'm going to have an aneurysm." Weiss was pinching the bridge of her nose, keeping most of her annoyance buried so as to maintain her composure. Yang's response did little to alleviate her concerns. "Don't worry, Ice Queen," "Hey!" "Shen's pretty mild compared to the rest of the family. I know his team's a little on the wild side, but Rubes and I've only met one of them before. You'll all just have to be patient."

As Yang finished up her statement, they rounded the entrance to the combat arena, which was beginning to fill up with students. Professor Goodwitch stood in the center of the ring, ready and waiting to introduce the course to the freshmen and begin the day's matches. It took Yang a moment, but she was finally able to locate Team SBLE sitting towards the middle right of the ring, in the lower sections of the seats, all dressed in their school uniforms, with Sephria still wearing her trademark scarf and Shen keeping his bandana around his neck. But as Yang started to call out to them, she was interrupted by a passing streak of red petals.

* * *

"SHEN!"

The poor boy didn't have a chance to react before he was tackle-hugged out of his seat, his cousin wrapping around him in a vice-like hug. As he attempted to writhe his way out of her grip, his friends just watched in quiet amusement, not even twitching a finger in their general direction. Sweet relief was found though, when the other freshmen caught up with Ruby, drawing her attention away from her captive.

"C'mon Sis, let him up. Looks like he needs some air." As she relinquished her hold, Shen filled his lungs with fresh oxygen and gave himself a moment to reorient himself, before greeting his new comrades.

"Well, I guess someone missed me. I haven't had a hug like that since last year." Rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, Ruby could only nervously chuckle out her response, "Sorry about that. I've just been so excited this week! I've been wanting to meet the rest of your team for so long!"

"Well then," Shen replied, "let's just get introductions out of the way before Goodwitch starts up. I'm Shen, Ruby and Yang's cousin and leader of this team." Pointing a thumb to his left, he continued, "Over there is Andres, our main fighter." The armored trainee merely grunted and nodded, though his eyes drifted over to team JNPR for the briefest of moments. "On Andres' left is Sephria, our scout." A small smile and a gentle wave of the hand were all the students received as a greeting from her. "And on her left there is Errol, my oldest friend and our resident Dust mage." No greeting was given from the young man though; his nose was buried in that notebook again.

"Errol? …Errol." Still no response. "Seph, wake him up." A quick slap to the back of his head returned the man's attention back to reality. "Ouch! What was that for?" The girl just pointed at Shen and the others, with an admonishment coming from Shen's direction.

"You're meeting new people today. Now put your notes away, keep them that way for the rest of the class, and try to mingle a bit, alright?" Grumbling in frustration, Errol slid the book back into a pocket inside his coat before saying hello to everyone. While most of the freshmen took the meeting fairly well, a couple reactions stood out. Pyrrha was giving a smile of familiarity to Andres, though it wasn't returned on his part. Meanwhile, Weiss was shooting a calculating glare at Errol. _"I know I've heard that name before. Father was rambling about someone by that same name to the board last year; something about a new weapon patent they wanted to buy from him. It couldn't possibly be this buffoon though."_

While Weiss was lost in thought, Pyrrha approached Andres. "It's good to see you again."

"And you as well, Pyrrha. Your form was still a little stiff during initiation, but otherwise, you've improved since last year." Most of the others were broken from their own initial impressions when they overheard this exchange. Weiss was the first to speak up. "Excuse me, but who are you to question her skill? Do I need to remind you that she's…"

She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as Andres rose to his full height, leveling a heated glare at her. "I know exactly who she is, Snowflake." "Why you…!" Shen quietly groaned, as he knew that trying to stop Andres at this point would be futile. "I've known her a lot longer than any of you have. I know her favorite foods, color, books, and movies. I know how she fights, what her weapons are capable of, what her semblance is, and how much she can bench. And I know exactly how many titles and awards she's won. Hell, I was her opponent in the finals for her first Mistral Regional. Who the hell are you to talk like you're her best friend?

The argument between them only began to get more heated, even as the others attempted to break the bickering trainees apart. The clamor only died once Professor Goodwitch entered the arena and blew into a silver whistle, nearly deafening everyone present.

"Good morning students. Now that I have your attention, will you all please take your seats? For many of you today, this will be your first melee combat course at Beacon, so I will be going over some of the basic rules, as well as taking any questions."

"For each session of this course, you will be taking part in a series of combat exercises. The form of combat will vary on a daily basis, ranging from doubles matches in this simple arena to various mock missions out in the Emerald Forest. As for who will be involved in these exercises, participants will randomly selected, unless students decide to volunteer. For today, we will be sticking with one-on-one combat in the arena. I will signal the start and end of each match. Any actions taken against your opponent before or after the match will be considered a forfeit on your part and you will be seeing me after class. I expect you all to be respectful of your opponents, neither holding back, nor behaving in an overly brutal fashion. During combat, your respective aura levels will be displayed on the monitor here."

Gesturing behind her, a large white screen lit up, with two blank slots for portraits and auras. "As combat continues, your aura levels will decrease through the usage of your aura, as well as from damage you receive from your opponent. When one combatant's aura reaches the red zone, the match will be called and the fighters for the next match will be selected. Those are the general rules for the class today; are there any questions?" A hand rose up from the audience.

"Yes, Mr. Winchester?"

With his usual smug smirk, the student spoke up, "Yeah, why are these second years mixed in with us? Doesn't seem fair to put them with us."

Her eyes narrowing in annoyance, Glynda stated, "Out in the field, there is always the chance that you will come up against foes that are superior to you in some aspect, whether it's in strength, speed, skill, aura, or experience. By mixing the upper and lower classmen in these courses, it is our goal to give you the experience necessary to know what to do when facing such an opponent. And Mr. Winchester, you _will_ use a more respectful tone of voice when addressing an instructor. Am I understood?"

The smirk wiped from his face, Cardin gulped and lowered his gaze in silence. With no other hands coming up, the professor called for potential volunteers.

Shen looked to Andres. "You wanna go a couple rounds? I want to test out some of my new tricks."

Shrugging his shoulders, Andres replied, "Sure, just don't go sulking when I kick your ass out of the ring. Want to throw the usual wager in?" "You're on! Professor Goodwitch, Andres and I'll have a go!"

Sighing, Glynda addressed the two students. "Very well. But I do ask that you try to find other sparring partners for the next session. Head into the locker rooms and return quickly."

The two boys got up and ran towards a small door near the bottom of the bleachers, disappearing inside before any of the new students could ask a few questions of them. So they were forced to direct their inquiries to the remaining two members of SBLE.

Blake got her question out first. "What was that about a wager?"

Taking a second to adjust his glasses, Errol replied, "It's just something they do every time they fight. Loser buys the next meal for everyone sitting at our table. I can't really remember what started it; might have been one of Shen's ideas to get Andres to actually want to fight."

"How often do they spar?" Weiss asked, while looking at a few files on her scroll.

Tapping his thumbs to his fingers to help with counting, Errol took a moment to think. "Hmm, they've usually fought each other about one or twice a week since the team formed; they never spar during missions or breaks, though. I think the current record between them stands at 20 wins for Andres, 16 wins for Shen, and two draws. Honestly, they're two of the better fighters in the whole class."

While Errol continued to expand on some of the intricacies of the arena, as well as Shen and Andres' fight record, Pyrrha was subjected to another inquiry, this one from Jaune.

"So, Pyrrha, you actually know that guy?"

"Yes, we've been friends since we were children. We've played together, trained together, fought Grimm together, even went to Sanctum together. Andres was the one that got me into tournament matches in the first place."

"Wow. It must have been tough for him; being a friend to someone famous like you, I mean."

"Actually, it was quite the opposite for the years before I won my first tournament. Andres' family is descended from one of the longest lines of warriors in recorded history, with the lineage capable of being traced to before the emergence of the Grimm. Combat is in that man's blood, and the whole of Mistral knows it."

Nora interjected at that point. "Sounds kind of like your family, Jaune! Does Andres have his own hand-me-down weapon?"

"Actually…" Pyrrha's response would be left unheard however, as Ruby interrupted while pointing towards the arena. "There they are!"

* * *

As the two warriors entered the arena, they released their weapons from their respective holsters.

Crossing his hands over to their opposite hips, Shen unsheathed his blades, taking Fēng, his jian, in his left hand and Yǔ, his arming sword, in his right. Meanwhile, Andres took the tower shield in his left hand, while removing his greatsword from the harness it sat in with his right hand.

From the stands, the others were finally able to get a good look at some of the characteristics of their weapons.

Each of Shen's swords had a faint etching on them, a sort of repeated pattern along the blade. On Fēng, a chevron was etched at inch-and-a-half intervals along the blade. Yǔ had a similar etching, though there were two parallel lines etched down the length of the blade as well.

Andres' equipment, on the other hand, seemed to gather much more attention. The shield was about a head shorter than he was, but just as wide as him. It looked to be almost an inch thick and made of iron that had been tinted black for aesthetics. Emblazoned on the shield was what had to be the man's symbol in stark white; a chalice growing out of a tree, with a flame burning inside the cup.

Where his shield was practically spotless and free of apparent damage, his sword was obviously old, to say the least. Numerous scratches and pits littered the flat of the blade, hilt, and guard, which extended almost a foot into the blade. Part of the guard's cruciform looked to have been broken off in the past, leaving it with half a crossguard at best. The blade itself was almost as long as Andres was tall, and nearly six inches wide at the base, gently tapering off to a fine point. And though the flat of the blade looked as though it had seen much better days, the edge shined dark silver, the sword's sharpness almost audible. The edge on the side with the broken guard was oddly shaped however, with an odd wave to the edge, rather than just a straight line. From the end of the guard, a faint indented line ran down the length of the blade. But what seemed most odd about it was the black corrosion covering large portions of the sword; a black and blue coating dotting parts of the sword that didn't seem to actually cover it at the same time. As though it had always been a part of the sword since it was forged.

When Andres unharnessed his sword, a few thoughts passed through the minds of the freshmen. Weiss was wondering what sort of use a museum piece like that could possibly hold. Ren, Blake and Yang regarded it with a quiet curiosity. Pyrrha was just gently smiling, waiting for the match to begin. Nora was bouncing with excitement, ready to see what the odd weapons could do. Jaune was just wondering how the heck Andres carried both of those large weapons. Only Ruby verbalized her amazement.

"Wait. Is that… oh my gosh, it is!"

Weiss turned towards her partner, curious as to Ruby's exclamation. "What are you talking about?"

Her inner weapon nerd going into overdrive, Ruby was beaming with joy and excitement. "Andres' sword! It has to be an original work of Berenike's! There's no other kind of weapon that gives off a presence like that!"

Ruby's observations set Weiss' mind ablaze with astonishment. The legendary blacksmith Erich Berenike, who lived in a time that had no knowledge of the Grimm, nor the chaos their emergence would bring. A craftsman of extraordinary skill, who created weapons and armor for the warriors of a powerful kingdom whose name had been lost to time. His armors would never dent, his weapons would never dull, all of his works made to outlast their initial wielders and anyone else that would come to possess them.

There was some truth to Weiss' initial thoughts about Andres' sword in that regard; most of Berenike's works, like the kingdom they were made for, vanished in the years following the emergence of the Grimm. The blacksmith had no family, and never took an apprentice in his lifetime, taking the secrets of his craft to his grave. The works of his that remained rarely saw battle in the modern age, instead staying in the display cases of museums and in the vaults of private collectors.

The basics of the legend were common knowledge among Hunters today, though identifying such a weapon from sight alone was difficult. But that brought a question to Blake's mind.

"How did he manage to acquire something like that? It'd be impossible to buy a weapon like that, if the stories are true."

Heads turning to Pyrrha, she scratched the back of her head as she answered the question. "Actually, Nora was correct about his sword. That blade's been passed down through his family since the original owner passed on. They even named it after that warrior, to honor his memory."

"What was his name?" Ruby asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"His name was…" Pyrrha was forced to silence herself though, when Professor Goodwitch interrupted her, her hand raised into the air, ready to signal the start of battle.

"Are both combatants ready?"

Andres shifted into a stance obviously meant for defense; his shield angled to block his opponent's view of him, knees bent for leverage, while keeping loose enough to allow pivoting, and his sword resting on his shoulder, ready to be swung at a moment's notice. Shen flipped his blades into a reverse grip, while assuming something akin to a runner's stance, his body low to the ground, knuckles brushing the floor, one leg swept behind him, the other leg's knee almost touching his chest.

As she swept her hand downwards, the instructor called out, "And…begin!"

* * *

Shen flew into movement as the professor gave the signal, coming in straight and low at Andres. His opponent unflinching, Shen nearly slammed into the shield before tucking and rolling behind the knight, then leaping upwards in a spinning slash with Fēng, catching him in the back.

His friend was hardly fazed by the blow however, turning with the impact to attempt to smash Shen with his shield. As the mass of iron came at him, Shen shifted his feet to meet the face of the shield, using it as a platform to jump out of his opponent's reach. Rolling out of the landing, he saw Andres charging in, sword raised and ready to be brought down.

Quickly rolling out of the way, Shen avoided a strike that shattered the floor where he once stood, before switching his swords to a regular grip and taking the opening presented to him. He only had a moment to land a pair of simultaneous strikes, before Andres jumped into Shen's follow-up in an attempted shoulder charge. Forced to cancel his attack, Shen spun around the knight, barely avoiding the strike, while firing a roundhouse kick at his opponent's back in retaliation. The kick practically bounced off of the man however, giving Andres a chance to turn towards Shen and move his sword into a forehand swing. Bending backwards at an angle that looked almost painful, Shen narrowly avoided a slash that sent a gust of air pressure towards the audience.

Another opening presented, Shen flipped Fēng into a reverse grip once more, before planting the blade into the ground and using it to swing his body around on an axis, bringing his feet to meet Andres' face. Finally, a substantial blow was landed, as Andres' was pushed back by a couple of meters. However, it was not enough to knock him off his feet, nor was it enough to bring his aura down by much, being lowered by about a tenth of its max, if at that. A dark chuckle escaping a feral smile, Andres resumed his stance and made his way towards Shen, his shield covering his front once more.

* * *

As the others watched, curiosity and confusion took hold in a couple of them.

"How is it that Andres has a higher record than Shen?" Weiss asked. "Shen's been running circles around him, while Andres has yet to land a blow."

Sighing, Errol looked up from his notebook, which he had surreptitiously taken out during the fight's start. "Take another look at their auras. Do you see how much Andres has lost?"

Seeing her nod, he continued on, "Andres has taken about two solid hits, which collectively haven't done that much to his aura. There are a few reasons for that: one, his armor isn't just for show; it actually does well at absorbing sharp force trauma and allows him to not rely too much on his aura for defense. Two, he has, by a fair amount, the most aura out of anyone else in our class. And three, Shen relies more on his speed and reflexes to win his fights. An opponent like Andres, who can take a lot of punishment and return that same damage and more in a single blow, is his worst matchup."

"I still don't see how that lets Andres win, if he can't even hit Shen?" Jaune quietly asked.

"Again, it goes back to their aura. Where Andres has an ungodly amount, Shen has one of the lower aura levels in the class. Andres can easily outlast Shen's stamina. Once that happens, Shen will start to slip up, slow down, and leave an opening of his own. Andres usually takes that opening and wins with one or two blows at that point. It's how he wins most of his matches."

* * *

In the arena, the two combatants seemed to be giving it their all; Shen would bounce around Andres, attacking at his blind spots and in the few moments when Andres attempted to make a strike. He never took his eyes off his opponent, even when dodging or rolling around the shield.

Andres, on the other hand, was patient. He knew it would be difficult to catch Shen unless his concentration slipped. He would wait until Shen was in the middle of a leap before moving either of his weapons. And while he certainly didn't wish to harm his leader, he knew the air pressure from his swings could send his foe off balance, granting him the opening he needed to win.

Shen could feel himself starting to tire though; all of his constant movement was starting to catch up with him. But he knew that if he stopped, Andres would catch him. The armored student, while somewhat slower than most of the other students, was still deceptively quick for his bulk. Shen had learned the hard way that the moment he stopped moving was the moment Andres would introduce him to a world of pain.

Leaping to the side and avoiding a powerful thrust of Andres' blade, the world ground to a halt for Shen, colors became more vivid, and details became sharper. And while the world was at a standstill, Shen's thoughts raced.

" _Alright, usual methods not working so well. He's gotten a little faster, putting more pressure on me. I've landed a few major blows, along with plenty of minor shots. And his aura's down to… about 55%, damn. Not what I like to see. By this point, he's usually been lower than that. Okay, he's gotten used to my attacks from behind, so they're not staggering him anymore, he's reacting faster to my 'pommel horse' trick, he's grazed me a few times, so my aura's down to about 70%, and I'm already starting to feel a little fatigued. Are there any openings I can use when I land?"_ His mind working, he saw that the thrust Andres was currently in the middle of would leave his entire right side and back wide open. _"I need to hit him with something big, something he won't see coming, but won't leave me wide open. Shèshǒu's out of the question, I don't want to seriously hurt him. That goes double for my swords' alt modes. Hmm… I could try that aura slash technique Dad taught me. I haven't had a chance to use it in a fight, though. At the very least, it could give the chance to combo my way to victory, if it works. Eh, nothing to lose by it, so at the very least, I can get some practice with it. Okay so, plan is: land, tuck and roll, sheathe Fēng, both hands on Yǔ, bring sword up, coat blade loosely with aura, picture what I want it to do, swing as hard as I can, and hope I get it right this time."_

His thinking done, the world flowed back into motion as Shen landed, rolling away from Andres, while sheathing Fēng. Gripping Yǔ in both hands, he brought the sword up and sent his aura running along the blade.

Many within the audience were curious as to what he would do from that distance, though Blake had a look of recognition on her face, realizing what Shen was attempting to perform.

As he swung the blade into a vertical slash, the aura coating Yǔ left as a bright arc of energy, flying towards Andres and slamming into his exposed flank. Shen smiled as he saw that his attack had a visible effect, knocking Andres off his feet and sending his aura down to about 30%.

Not one to waste such an opportunity, Shen descended upon his foe, unsheathing Fēng once more and raining numerous blows against his foe in an attempt to quickly finish the fight. As the attacks came in, Andres brought his shield up, blocking a few blows, before wildly swinging the shield outwards. His move paid off, as the shield knocked away Yǔ, leaving Shen wide open for retaliation.

The world slowed down for Shen once more, though every line of thought came to the same conclusion; _"Well, shit."_

As Andres initiated a forehand strike with the flat of his blade, Shen brought up Fēng for a downward slash on Andres' left shoulder. Shen's attack landed first, dealing a heavy blow to Andres and offsetting the incoming attack from the opponent, though he was unable to avoid the blow. The attack striking his hip, Shen was sent flying towards the wall of arena, with Glynda calling the match just after Shen impacted with the wall.

* * *

With the match over, everyone looked to the aura readouts of the fighters, curious to see who had won. To everyone's surprise, both combatants' Auras rested at 20%, both in the red zone, both having struck each other at almost exactly the same time.

Adjusting her glasses, Professor Goodwitch addressed the crowd. "As both combatant's auras reached the red zone at approximately the same time, I will have to declare this match a tie."

She turned towards Andres. "Your reaction times are showing some improvement, and your defense was excellent as usual. Though, I would suggest learning some more restraint for your attacks, especially when facing a friend. Just as well, next time, try not to do as much damage to the arena." Without even looking, the professor brought out her crop and waved it a couple times, repairing the broken sections of the arena that were the result of some of Andres' more enthusiastic attacks.

She then addressed Shen. "Your skill with outmaneuvering an opponent hasn't diminished at all, which I am glad to see. And learning the aura slash technique is a good addition to your own offensive arsenal. But I strongly advise you to put more time into developing your sword techniques; you need a stronger attack that you can use in close combat, rather than mid-range. Now, do you need to visit the infirmary?"

Checking himself over, Shen shook his head. "No, just a couple of bruises. My aura took most of the impact for me, so I should be fine. We'll clear out for the next match."

With that, Shen and Andres left for the locker room, arguing over who was going to pay for lunch later, while Glynda once more addressed the crowd. "Now then, do we have any more volunteers?"

* * *

 **AN: Dizzy here! So, the freshmen meet some of their upperclassmen and get a taste of what they're in for this year. We got to see some of Shen and Andres' skills, though what their weapons are really capable of is something for a later chapter.**

 **This is the first time I've written a fight scene, so I hope you were able to follow along. Also, sorry if it felt like I was padding for space before the actual fight; I did expect the conversation between the teams to last as long as it turned out. If you have the time, drop a review; I want to hear what you guys think and what I could do to improve for future chapters.**

 **Next chapter, you get to see one more member of Team SABR fight, as well as a member or two of RWBY and/or JNPR. After that, we'll move on to some more background for the characters. I want to get them a little more established with the canon cast before they go out on their first mission of the semester. Until then, hope you all have a happy holidays!**


	4. Testing, Testing

"I'm going to kill him."

"No you're not. Just try to loosen up, Weiss."

"That's not funny, and it never will be."

It was a strange sight, to be sure. Yang was currently walking down a hallway in the dorms, on the way to team RWBY's room. Carried over her shoulder was her teammate, Weiss. Adding to the unusual scene was a whitish-green solid foam covering large sections of Weiss' body, along with her very stiff appearance; her torso and limbs were practically unmoving, aside from the occasional twitch, and she seemed unable to turn her head.

"You gotta look at the bright side of things, Ice Queen. You won your first match, you got to show everyone just how awesome you are, and he didn't even really hurt you."

"And all of that still doesn't make up for the humiliation that put me in this situation in the first place."

* * *

 **10 Minutes Ago**

As Shen and Andres were removing themselves from the arena, Professor Goodwitch was calling on other volunteers for the next match. Many of the new students were somewhat hesitant to volunteer though; they feared their chances of victory if they ended up going against a second year. As many of the students deliberated, one bespectacled trainee closed and pocketed a notebook and stood up.

"I'll have the next match, if you don't mind, Professor."

With Errol's declaration, a collective gasp rose from the other second years in the bleachers, while down in the arena, Shen and Andres both groaned in exasperation, while the professor closed her eyes, taking a moment to ready herself for what was to come.

"Alright, Mr. Ramkin, retrieve your equipment and be back here quickly."

As he left the stands for the locker rooms, the friends he left behind were curious as to what could have elicited such a reaction from the other students. If the previous combatants were supposedly two of the better fighters in the class, what was it about Errol that made the others appear so afraid of him? All eyes turned towards Sephria, still sitting in her spot with a small smile gracing her face.

Pyrrha decided to break the ice with her. "So, Sephria, what sort of a warrior is Errol? I imagine he must be quite skilled if that how others react to his desire to fight."

Sephria just shook her head in response.

"No? He's not a good fighter?"

Ruby decided to step into the conversation. "Errol's never been that good in a straight-up fight. I mean, yeah, he's a good shot, but he's terrible in close combat."

"So, how does a guy that can't fight make it into Beacon?" Nora asked, while Jaune slightly paled in the background.

"He actually got a scholarship to come to Beacon," Yang answered. "Somehow, Ozpin learned about Errol and what he can do with Dust, so he offered Errol a full ride to the school."

"So, what, he's some sort of Dust prodigy?" Nora asked.

Shen and Andres were coming up the stairs as she finished her question, just in time for Shen to overhear it and answer. "Aside from some of the professors, Errol's probably the most knowledgeable person on campus when it comes to Dust and its various uses. He even mixes up his own Dust compounds to use in combat. Those compounds are the reason the other second years refuse to fight him; the only time he ever volunteers for a match is when he wants to run a field test of his latest creation."

Andres cut in for a moment then. "Hell, during our initiation, he almost blew us to bits with some custom round he made for his weapon. Reduced the forest temple to rubble in the process."

Impatience and curiosity slowly began to rise within Weiss as Andres spoke. With his elaboration, Weiss was only reminded of how little she really knew about him for all of his supposed infamy, save for the recent conversation and what little she had overheard from her father. And so she made a decision and stood up.

"Professor Goodwitch, I'll be his opponent."

Goodwitch looked surprised, to say the least; she had been entirely ready to make a random assignment for Errol's opponent before Weiss spoke up. After Errol's first duel last year, which had left his opponent with periodical muscle spasms for a week, no other student had voluntarily faced him in combat. Even with his assurances that his "inventions" wouldn't leave anyone in need of the infirmary, no one in their right mind wanted to be his guinea pig.

"Very well, Ms. Schnee. Grab your equipment and return quickly."

* * *

As Weiss entered the arena, Myrtenaster drawn, she observed her opponent fiddling with his weapon: a twin-barreled, forest green assault rifle, with a design reminiscent of her partner's own Crescent Rose. A small magazine was set into the underside of the weapon, while Errol was currently inserting a pair of what looked to be Dust vials into sockets on the weapon's right side. One vial contained what looked to be pure white Dust, while the second held a greenish-white blend. Definitely one of his personal mixtures.

Stepping into position in the ring, Weiss addressed her opponent. "So, Errol, your leader said you're supposed to be a Dust mage as well."

"I prefer the term scientist, to be frank. Less focus on direct manipulation of Dust and more towards understanding of its mechanics." Errol didn't even look up from his adjustments to his weapon, his attention entirely elsewhere.

"He also said that you formulate your own compounds for use in combat."  
Still tinkering with his rifle, he responded, "That is correct."

"So, I have to ask, what was it you made that stirred up every Dust distributer and arms manufacturer from here to Atlas?"

Finishing with his machinations, he thumbed a switch by the grip of his rifle, setting off a low hum and lighting up some of the lines along the weapon with a faint whitish-green light. "It's not really something I'm allowed to talk about in the open like this. However, as a fellow Dust aficionado, I would love to get your opinion on the compound I'll be testing on you today. I need to know exactly how this feels while you're under its effects."

"I have no intention of letting whatever that is even graze me." Weiss slipped into her usual stance, shoulders back, back straight, eyes and right foot forward, blade pointed straight at her opponent.

Adjusting his glasses, Errol merely smiled in response before taking his rifle in a left-handed grip, setting himself into a bit of a stooped stance.

From the sidelines, Professor Goodwitch raised her hand into the air. "If both combatants are ready, then begin." With that, she swiftly lowered her hand and quickly made her escape from the arena.

* * *

With Goodwitch's declaration, Errol opened fire, a burst of pale green, glowing projectiles spewing from the top barrel of his rifle. Weiss slid to the side, a glyph glowing beneath her feet, before gliding towards her opponent, rapier pulled back and ready for a powerful strike.

From the general appearance of his weapon and the conversation she had overheard just moments ago, Weiss had judged that getting in close was going to be the swiftest possible way of ending this match.

When Errol saw her racing towards him, he triggered two switches on the rifle in preparation: one on the grip of the rifle by his thumb and another on rifle's body by his middle finger. In an instant, the lines along the weapon switched from a light green glow to a bright white, while a thin bayonet extended from below the lower barrel of the rifle.

It was a close call, to say the least; Weiss was a meter away when the bayonet came out. Swinging his rifle upwards, he narrowly parried her attack, before bringing Detritus back down, leveling the barrel straight at her chest and pulling the trigger.

With a flash of white light, Weiss was sent flying away, flipping in midair before landing on her feet. With the blast having struck her in the chest, she heaved and coughed, trying to catch her breath.

Errol didn't see fit to give her that chance however, thumbing the switch on the grip once more, changing the lights from white to pale green and taking aim.

* * *

Weiss was still disoriented when Errol began rapidly pulling the trigger, sending another volley of pale green shots in her direction. She didn't even have a chance to set up a glyph for protection in time, leaving herself wide open.

Shot after shot pelted her body, coating it in a fine layer of whitish-green dust, undoubtedly bruising the skin where it impacted.

But aside from pain at the impact points and a slight tingling sensation, Weiss was otherwise unharmed. In fact, she felt somewhat invigorated, as though the Dust was acting as a stimulant of sorts.

Her senses back to full attention and her breath finally caught, Weiss was preparing to begin her counterattack when something unexpected occurred, regarding her opponent specifically.

As if he had completely forgotten about the match, Errol had shifted his grip on the rifle to get a better view of the Dust cartridges, mumbling to himself all the while.

"No, no, no, no, that's not right. It shouldn't be acting like that. It should've solidified immediately, yet instead remains in its base state. Why's it doing that? The formula was solid, the small-scale tests worked perfectly. So what's the problem?"

Weiss, along with at least half of the audience, just stared in confusion at the spectacle before them. A slight snickering could be heard coming from some of the seats as well.

It was just ridiculous to her; that someone could just completely space out in the middle of a fight when something went wrong in an attempt to correct it, let alone figure out just how it went wrong in the first place.

After about thirty seconds of this, it seemed like Errol was coming back to his senses, as he blinked a few times and looked at his opponent. But what came out of his mouth only added to the absurdity of the situation.

"I'm sorry, but could you give me a minute? I need to figure this out real quick."

* * *

Up in the stands, all Shen could do was pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Andres was leveling a heated scowl at his teammate in the arena, while Sephria lightly blushed and smiled in amusement.

Among the first years in the group, only Yang actually seemed to be enjoying the moment, with no attempt made to hide her laughter. The others could only look on in a mixture of confusion and worry.

Breaking his own silence, Shen quietly addressed Andres. "Remind me to give him the usual lecture when we're finished here. Also, I'm taking his keys to the Dust lab, so I want you to hold on to them, alright?"

Andres nodded. "Can do. So, how screwed is he?"

Taking a second to think, Shen responded. "If what I've heard about her temper is true, I'm giving him about twenty seconds before Goodwitch calls the match."

* * *

In the arena, Errol's little comment had been the last straw for Weiss. He had brushed off her questions, nearly fractured her ribs, soiled her combat attire, and was ignoring her in favor of his damned Dust. It was time to end this shameful display.

Triggering the switch on her rapier, the Dust chamber rotated until it stopped on the red Dust. With a pulse of aura, the Dust was carried into the blade, inciting a harsh red glow along the metal.

And with a wide arcing swipe of the blade, followed by a quick flick of her wrist, a series of small fireballs were sent flying in Errol's direction.

His attention still focused on his weapon, Errol didn't get a chance to react before he was struck and sent flying by a series of small explosions.

Not wanting to give him the opportunity to counterattack with that white Dust again, Weiss pointed two fingers from her free hand at Errol, locking his limbs in a number of small glyphs, before dashing towards him, while her rapier began to glow with a dull, yellow light.

Once she was under him, Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground, generating a yellow glyph around her that thrummed with electrical energy. With a quick leap, she left the confines of the glyph and gestured with her free hand. In an instant, the construct glowed brightly, before releasing a torrent of electrical bolts upwards and into Errol. The electrical assault lasted for only a few seconds, but it was enough to bring his aura down into the red, forcing Glynda to call the match in Weiss' favor.

With that, Weiss released the glyphs holding Errol in place, allowing him to drop to ground, his clothes scorched and smoking and his hair standing on end.

Looking down at Errol, who was lying on his back, Weiss addressed him. "I'm not sure what it was you were trying to accomplish with this concoction, but if you're what my father and others have been so interested in for a year, I fail to see how you managed to gain their attention. Testing random mixtures of Dust in the middle of combat never… never… Are you even listening to me?"

He was not.

Still on his back, eyes staring at the ceiling, what was beginning to irritate Weiss even further was the ever-constant mumbling to himself.

Straining her hearing, she could just barely make out what he was saying. "…acts as a binding agent for reactant complex AB and inductor C, while… while…" A smile began to stretch across his face. "Ohhhh, of course."

"What are you babbling about now?" Weiss asked with no small amount of ire.

Sitting up now, he looked at Weiss. "I know why it's taking so long to for the components to react."

Irritation and sarcasm turned to confusion and worry in an instant. "React?" No sooner had the word left her mouth that the greenish white dust coating her attire began to left off small green sparks.

As the sparking began to increase in frequency, a strange green foam rose up from the Dust, while Weiss's movements started to become slower and jerkier.

"What the hell is this stuff doing?"

Finally standing up, Errol brushed off his clothing and attempted to straighten up his hair while answering her question. "It's supposed to act like a combination of riot foam and a stun gun; a Dust mixture diffuses through the clothing and epidermis and into the muscular system, locking the skeletal muscles of the affected areas into tetany, while a quick-hardening Dust/resin complex forms a sticky, yet solid layer over the body, protecting the target while keeping the limbs from moving any sharp and pointy or any form of dangerous objects away from the subject's body."

The foam was starting to become solid at this, while Weiss' limbs had almost completely ceased moving. And still, Errol rambled on. "The entire reaction was supposed to take place over the course of a couple seconds, rather than nearly a whole minute. Problem was, the catalyst I used for timing and setting off the reaction was either too diluted or too weak to work quickly enough for the desired effect on this field test. But I digress; how are feeling? Any pain aside from a few bruises? Any movement left in those areas? Anything weird or out of the ordinary?"

* * *

Back in the stands, the members of RWBY and JNPR showcased a wide gamut of emotions. From being flabbergasted at the outcome of the match, to curiosity towards the full effects of the compound that had incapacitated Weiss, but none of them were quite as notable as Yang and Nora's reactions, which they happened to share with a fair number of people in the audience: amusement. Teetering in their seats, many of the students present simply broke out in laughter at the spectacle before them.

Weiss, on the other hand, looked downright murderous. The glare she held could have burnt down cities and still kept going. And it was all directed at one individual.

"You…you…you insufferable, half-witted, incompetent little...! When this wears off, I will grind you and that damned rifle of yours into dust! I will have you blacklisted from every SDC-approved Dust distributer in the world! I will…!

"Miss Schnee," Professor Goodwitch decided to step in at this point, seeing no use in wasting any more of the class' time. When she spoke up, most of the students' laughter quickly died out. "Take a moment to compose yourself before you say something you might regret. In the meantime, Mr. Ramkin," she turned to address the trainee, who was collapsing and holstering his rifle, "how long will Ms. Schnee remain in this state?"

Errol had to reach into his coat, pull out his notebook, and leaf through it before he could provide a solid answer. "Well, the lab rats I used stayed like that for around two to four hours, but with the slow reaction speed due to an unsuitable catalyst, my best guess…probably six to nine hours. Maybe more. But…"  
"Nine hours?! Just what am I supposed to do in the meantime? I can't miss my classes because of this!"

Errol held up a finger and shushed her before she could continue her brewing rant. "If you would let me finish," he said, exasperation and no small amount of pride evident in his voice, "that is pretty much irrelevant, as I happen to have a neutralizing agent with me." Reaching around his back with his right hand, he keyed in a 4-digit code on Ankh's number pad. After a moment, the sounds of moving parts and a small mechanical whine could be heard coming from the case, before a circular port opened up under the number pad. From said port, a vial of a faintly orange colored dust was deposited into Errol's waiting hand.

"Just dip a rag in any simple solvent and apply to the base of the foam to remove it from her clothes. As for the paralytic," he said, holding up the vial for Professor Goodwitch to observe, "mix 2 parts this with 1 part mineral oil and 1 part acetic acid, then apply to the affected areas topically. You should be able to move within a few minutes afterwards."

* * *

Silence pervaded the arena for a moment; no one dared to even loose a chuckle at the implications of Errol's statement. Jaune just looked confused.

"Um, Pyrrha, what does he mean by topically?"

Blushing a shade of red that would have made Ruby's cloak envious, she responded, "Well, Jaune, it… um… you see,"  
And with her usual sense of tact, Nora filled in the blanks. "It means somebody's going to have to rub that stuff on Weiss, since her arms are stuck like that."

With that, Yang couldn't contain herself any longer, toppling out of her seat as she rolled back and forth with uncontrolled mirth. The professor did not fail to catch this, quickly addressing the student.

"Well, Ms. Xiao Long, since you are taking such pleasure in this, you can assist Ms. Schnee with cleaning herself up. Take her back to your team's dorm, and report back to me when you are finished with classes today, so that we may discuss your conduct. And Mr. Ramkin," she turned once more to address the student. "in the future, if you are considering testing an invention of yours on another student without an instructor's authorization and the student's informed consent, I will be revoking your lab privileges. Am I understood?"

"Got it," he responded, not even looking up from his notes. Looking into the audience, Goodwitch found Errol's team.

"Mr. Xiao Long, make sure he understands." Gulping in nervousness, he quickly nodded in the affirmative. Turning towards Yang, he gave her a light kick in the shin to get her moving. She quickly made her way to the arena floor, leaping over the railing to reach her teammate.

Sheepishly grinning at the professor as she took the vial of Dust from Errol, she then reached towards Weiss, who was still too incoherent with rage to even notice as she was hoisted over Yang's shoulder and carried out of the arena.

* * *

 **Present Time**

As Yang and Weis entered their dorm, Weiss was set down in the center of the room, while Yang reached into a pocket and drew out the vial.

"So, how do you want to do this?" Yang asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Sighing in resignation, Weiss spoke up. "Let's just take care of the foam first. When that's finished, just undo one of my arms, and I'll handle the rest. You can head back to class afterwards."

"Sounds like a plan," Yang said, flicking the vial upwards and catching it with a flourish.

As Yang entered the dorm's restroom, she wondered to herself.

 _"I wonder how the others are doing."_

* * *

Back in the arena, a couple of fights had passed by with nothing of note happening. That is, before one Jaune Arc entered the ring. None of his new friends knew who his opponent was; just another average student that made it in, but didn't catch anyone's eye.

Against students such as Pyrrha, Weiss, and Shen, Jaune's performance would have been perfectly understandable.

But against this person, this poor performance was something to take note of. His guard seemed to be constantly down, his swipes were unbalanced, his footwork was absolutely terrible, and his use of aura was practically nonexistent.

And as his normal scowl turned into a razor sharp glare, Andres took note of that fight, and others to come.

* * *

 **AN: Hey guys! Dizzy here! Wow, I didn't think I would take this long to actually get this chapter finished and ready to go. With all of the big shifts that have been happening in Season 3 currently, I have had to go back and take another look at my outline for how this whole series is going to go. Had to change a few things, but once I reach the events of Season 3 in this story, the AU will be strong with this one.**

 **On a lighter note, who here's ready for Lazer Team? I am! Next time, we'll see a little bit of the other students of Beacon, and we might learn more about the skills of SABR's final member. Until then, stay classy and don't be afraid to review.**


	5. The Rules of Beacon

In the weeks following that first day of combat classes, many of the teams fell into their own patterns. Some would frequently challenge each other to duels, while others preferred to sit and watch on the sidelines. Alliances and friendships began to form between teams in both years. Teams RWBY, JNPR, and SBLE were no exception to this trend.

If they weren't fighting each other, Shen and Andres would end up going against some of their underclassmen, while Sephria and Errol simply watched. Students such as Jaune, Blake, and Ren preferred sitting out of combat as well, though Jaune's poor luck saw to it that he saw his own fair share of fights.

But even with these friendships forming, there was an underlying tension between some of them. Weiss wouldn't speak with Errol or even acknowledge him, after the fiasco that was their first, and so far only, duel. Andres seemed to possess a similar attitude towards Jaune that was growing all the more evident as the days passed.

Said attitude only became worse on combat days, with Andres burning holes in the back of Jaune's head with his scowl. No one among the freshmen had dared to approach him on the issue though. Shen had assured them that whatever it was, Andres would come forward and tell them what was bothering him soon enough.

So far, that time had yet to come. And the looks only seemed to intensify as the group watched Jaune be lead around by the nose by one Cardin Winchester.

Watching the one-sided match to its conclusion and hearing Goodwitch's criticism of Jaune's lack of progress was practically the last straw for Andres.

 _"How?! How the hell are the others not seeing it? No prior knowledge of the basic abilities Hunters need, piss-poor combat ability, he freakin' drops his shield in the middle of a fight to take a wild swing, and he loses to the guy without forcing him to use Dust or a semblance. There is no way he legitimately made into Beacon. He's an untrained idiot that managed to somehow sneak in, it's the only explanation."_

As he silently ranted to himself, he turned his gaze towards those he would consider his closest friends.

 _"I know that Shen knows. There's no way he hasn't. He might be too proud of himself for his own good at times, but he's no fool. Pyrrha, on the other hand; either she's suddenly become denser than my shield, or she's in denial."_

He was broken from his musings when the bell rang, signaling the end of class and the start of the teams' shared lunch hour. Rising from his seat and stretching his back, he formed up with the others as they made their way to the dining hall.

* * *

At their usual table, the collection of teams ate their meals in relative peace, save for the constant chatter of one Nora Valkyrie. Currently, she was expounding on a supposed dream she'd been having the past few months. As she went into the finer details of her grand exploits within the dream, Ren would interrupt with his version of the tale, turning it from what was clearly a dream, to something more akin to an actual encounter a Hunter might experience.

Normally, Andres would pay plenty of attention to the girl's ramblings; they were a welcome distraction from the usual tedium of school days. But his mind was entirely elsewhere. Hardly even touching his salad, his thoughts drifted once more towards the blonde leader sitting on the other side of the table. He knew he had to voice his concerns with someone else; it was just a matter of whom.

He didn't particularly enjoy putting much thought into these things. Stuff like that was more up Shen and Errol's alleys. It wasn't that he wasn't intelligent or anything; he just preferred simple problems that could easily be solved with the proper application of blunt and/or sharp force trauma.

As Nora's story came to a close, Andres noticed that Pyrrha was speaking to Jaune.

"Jaune, are you okay?" Her concern was more than evident, when one looked in her eyes.

Jaune was doing his best to avoid looking directly into said emerald orbs, and the vocal stumbling that was his response did nothing to assuage his friends' concern.

"…Uh? Oh, yeah. Why?"

Ruby's turn to speak came up, as she did her best to ease Jaune into what was certainly going to be a difficult conversation. "It's just that you seem a little… not okay."

Hiding his discomfort as best as possible, Jaune put up a confident face.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, look," he said, smiling and doing his best to not wince from bruises he'd accumulated at the hands of Cardin Winchester.

He wasn't fooling anybody.

"Jaune," Pyrrha said, "Cardin has been picking on you since the first week of school. He practically uses you as his personal punching bag."

Still feigning nonchalance, Jaune waved his hand in their direction as he spoke.

"Naw, he just likes to mess around, y'know. Practical jokes and stuff."

"Mmmt mmt mmmd…" "Shen," Ruby interrupted, looking a little disgusted with him, "your mouth's full."

Setting down his bloody burger and swallowing the mouthful of beef and bun he was chewing at the time, Shen took a moment to wipe his mouth with a napkin before speaking up again.

"Sorry about that. Look, Jaune, I know practical jokes. I have been on the receiving end of my fair share of pranks and someone…" he said, drawing out the last syllable as he narrowed his gaze at Sephria, "enjoys laying traps around campus to keep the students on their toes." Sephria, looking up from her bologna sandwich, just responded with the best innocent look she could manage.

Returning to the matter at hand, Shen looked back at Jaune before continuing.

"I have also been on the receiving end of plenty of bullying back at Signal, and I will tell you now; Cardin is a bully, no ifs, ands, or buts about it."

"He's book-checked you a dozen times," Yang butted in.

"He's triggered your shield to lodge in the doorways of lecture halls," Ren calmly added.

"And do we have to remind you about the incident with the rocket-propelled lockers?" Shen inquired.

Unbelievably, Jaune still was trying to brush all of this off. "I didn't land that far from the school."

Andres, his ire rising, decided to cut in this time. "You landed in the middle of the Emerald Forest, and we had to pull your ass out of there before you became appetizers for the Grimm."

"The only reason the professors haven't stopped Cardin," Shen said, "is because they expect us to take care of ourselves and each other. Unless it gets to the point where lives are genuinely threatened, they won't step in."

The others looked shocked at this information. Ruby seemed to be in the most disbelief. "That can't be right. They're here to look out for us. They wouldn't just let…"

Blake, setting down her book, threw in her two lien. "It actually makes sense when you think about it. Just consider initiation; they threw us off of a cliff into Grimm-infested territory. It's not that far of a stretch to imagine them letting the students take care of problems within the ranks. From what I understand, that's how rogue Hunters are dealt with in the first place; if a Hunter starts taking actions that threaten mankind, it's up to the others to deal with him, one way or another."

A dark silence fell over the group as they digested what Blake had said. When put that way, she made a strong argument that the others found difficult to counter.

Trying to move on from the less-than-enjoyable topic, Pyrrha once more attempted to get Jaune to open up.

"You know if you ever need help, you can just ask." It almost sounded as if she were pleading with him at this point. And yet, he still attempted to brush off what was going on.

"Oh!" Nora squealed as she leapt out of her seat in excitement, "We'll break his legs!" She capped off her statement by flexing her arms, while wearing what had to be, in Andres' opinion, the most sinister of grins.

A moment of silence passed as the group attempted to wrap their collective heads around Nora's idea.

"I'm in," Andres said, thinking of how it would be a good way for him to let off steam. "Seph?"

Looking at her friend, then to Nora, Sephria simply shrugged in acceptance.

"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone." Gesturing behind him, he pointed towards the table team CRDL claimed as their territory.

As the others looked on, they saw Cardin tugging on the ears of a brunette rabbit faunus, his teammates laughing and sneering at the girl's cries of pain.

Pyrrha and Blake both voiced their own displeasure at the actions they were witnessing, but failed to notice how the eyes of team SBLE's members widened at the sight. Setting his food down, Shen quickly scanned the crowd, searching for three familiar faces.

Turning to his leader, Andres asked, "You see Coco anywhere?"

"Yeah, I see her. I'd say we've got about a minute before she gets out of checkout and sees this."

Sephria and Andres nodded, understanding what they had to do.

"So what's the plan?" Andres inquired.

Looking to Sephria, Shen jerked his head towards the back of the dining hall. "Seph, I need you to get in position for an extraction. Get yourself vanished and send Andres a message when you're ready." Sephria gave a quick thumbs up before getting up and rushing out of the dining hall, while Shen continued with his orders. "Errol, I'm going to need you to… where's Errol?" He asked, head suddenly on a swivel as he looked for his missing teammate.

"He split off from us not too long after we left the arena," Ren said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "He was mumbling something about making up for lost time today."

"Dammit, of all the lousy times," Sighing, Shen turned towards his team's bruiser. "Looks like you're on distraction duty. When you get Seph's message, get CRDL's attention."

"And just how do you expect me to do that?" Andres incredulously asked.

"Short of punching his lights out, I don't care. Just give Seph her opening. I'll try to hold Coco back until Velv's is out of the way." Shen stated as he left his seat, walking towards the lunch line.

Confusion crossing many of their faces, the freshmen looked towards Andres for answers.

"What's going on? What did Shen mean by 'extraction?'" Ruby asked.

Sighing, Andres set down his fork, knowing he wasn't going to be returning to his food anytime soon. "The faunus girl over there is Velvet Scarletina, a member of team CFVY, which happens to be one of the highest performing teams in the entire school. They're well knit, strong, resourceful, and loyal to each other to a fault. And out of the group's dynamic, you could consider Velvet to be the sweet little sister of the group, while her leader, Coco Adel, is the overprotective big sister with a very short temper when it comes to those who would hurt her friends."

Nods of understanding followed this statement, though Nora still had some confusion.

"So, why's Shen keeping Coco from breaking Cardin's legs?"

"We'd just rather keep Velvet out of the way. She's a bit to kind for her own good, doesn't really like it when people are hurt around her." Andres' eyes began roaming around the table, searching for an idea for his part in the upcoming action. And as he searched, he continued with his story. "Last year, when Velvet was first bullied, Coco and the others came down on the offenders so hard, that the…"

He was interrupted by his scroll, two sets of three sharp 'beeps' coming from the device. Pulling it from his pocket, he opened it up to see a thumbs-up icon that had been sent from Sephria.

Sighing as he pocketed the device, he turned to Nora. "Bubbles, I'm gonna need to borrow your dessert."

* * *

Over at the checkout line in the cafeteria, Shen was attempting to convince Coco to not immediately storm over to CRDL's table.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go over there and put them in traction." she said, looking over her shades at her friend.

"I'll give you two," he replied, not even flinching from her glare. "Putting them in traction only gets you in even deeper trouble. But more importantly, would you rather have those meatheads hurt and afraid, or humiliated, hurt, and afraid?"

Sharpening her glare at the knowing smirk he was wearing, she could only sigh and nod, while setting her tray down at the nearest table.

"You sure this will work?" her voice flowing with doubt.

His smile unbroken, Shen replied, "Trust me. My plans have yet to backfire on me."

"Do I need to remind you about initiation last year?"

"Hey, that was not my fault! Errol never told me the full specifics about that thing until he launched it at that flock of Nevermores." He said, turning towards Coco.

"And it gave Velvet tinnitus for a month, scorched Fox's hair, Errol's eyebrows still haven't fully grown back, and do I need to remind you about the pair of limited edition, practically brand new Rai Bahn sunglasses it ruined, along with one of my favorite berets!"

"I paid you back in full for those and bought you a new hat!"

"And I still have yet to fully recover from the emotional trauma associated with that day." She said with mock anguish, turning her head away and raising her chin.

Sighing, Shen looked out towards the rest of the dining hall. "You are impossible." He spoke, doing his best to hide a smile.

"I know." She said, with a small grin.

For a moment, nothing was said between them, Shen's gaze tracing across the hall, before settling around an isolated corner where the everyday observer would have seen nothing.

"Alright, look's like Seph's in position and Andres is armed. Get ready."

* * *

Over at team CRDL's table, Velvet was caught in a careful balance of struggling to release herself from Cardin's grip, and ensuring that her ears weren't torn off in the process.

A difficult struggle if ever there was.

All the while, the sound of laughter permeated the space around her. It certainly kindled a desire to show these hooligans just what they were messing with, just how strong she really was. But she also knew that wasn't the way she and her faunus friends did things. If they started using force to get humans to respect them, they would be no better than the White Fang. Even then, past experience told her she just needed to wait and either A) the bullies would get bored and let her go, or B) other friends of hers would step in. She just needed to be patient.

So she put on a little show; a few cries of pain, a tremble in her voice, a mist in her eyes, all to make them feel like they were in control. And as the show went on, her ears picked up something. Barely a whisper, but recognizable to her enhanced hearing nonetheless.

"Cardin…"

Her captor certainly couldn't hear it. Neither could his friends. But Velvet knew what it meant. She'd heard similar whispers in the past. And they were usually followed by a swift interjection from her friends after a few moments.

"Cardin…"

The voice again; louder this time. Just enough for the redhead to pick up something and turn his head a few times. What followed, he most certainly heard.

"HEY, STUPID!"

Turning towards the source of the insult, Cardin only had a moment to see Andres' smug smirk, before his vision was obscured by the pudding cup impacting his face with a nice, perfectly audible 'splat.'

Silence fell over the dining hall as the students processed what had just transpired.

The quiet only lasted for a brief moment, however, before most of the students present burst into laughter, drowning the entire hall in noise.

Cardin, enraged and quite embarrassed, was forced to let go of his captive to clean off his face. As soon as he let go of the girl's ears, Velvet felt a pair of arms reach around her torso and pick her up, before carrying her off and away from team CRDL.

Their leader otherwise indisposed, Dove, Sky, and Russell turned to Andres.

"You got a problem or something?" Russell asked, he and his friends itching for fight.

With a blank face and even tone, Andres responded. "Nope. You guys, on the other hand, just broke Rule Number 1."

"And Rule Number 1 is what, exactly?" Sky said, with a questioning look.

A pained cry coming from behind him followed his question. Turning towards the sound, Sky saw a very well-dressed brunette holding Russell by the ear, while reaching towards Dove with her free hand.

"Don't…" she said, as she grabbed her target.

"Touch…" she continued, yanking her captives up to eye level with her.

"The Bunny." With that, she gave her captives' ears a nice, big twist, eliciting more cries of pain from them, before granting sweet release and letting go.

As the two scurried away from the wrathful leader, over at the freshman teams' table, many sitting there winced in sympathy for the boys. If only for a moment, before joining the rest of their classmates in laughing at the spectacle. After about a minute, Coco had finished up with her business, sending the members of CRDL out of the lunchroom to nurse their poor throbbing, swollen ears.

The show finally over, the students in the dining hall returned to their meals and conversations, a relative calm settling in once more. Looking around in curiosity, Ruby addressed a question that had been on her mind.

"Where'd Velvet go?"

"I'm right here."

Everyone at the table, save for Andres, jumped at the sudden, unexpected response. Sitting right there, in between Ren and Sephria, was Velvet, with a calm smile marking her face.

"How'd you do that?" Jaune asked. "We didn't even see you get away from Cardin."

"Oh, well, Seph pulled me out of there once he let go. We've been sitting here for the last minute or so." She responded.

A few eyes widened at the statement. They hadn't even seen Sephria since Shen sent her out of the dining hall. To have come back in, retrieve her friend, and make it back to the table required either an impossible amount of skill with stealth or…

"You used your semblance, didn't you?" Blake asked Sephria. With eyes shut and a long smile, Sephria nodded in response.

A hand was suddenly raised at the table. "Um, what's a semblance?"

Eyes turned towards Jaune in surprise. "How can you not know what a semblance is?" Weiss incredulously asked.

"It's a focused application of aura that's unique to each individual, with its own benefits, restrictions, and applications." Pyrrha calmly said to her partner.

"First time hearing about it." Jaune said plainly.

Weiss seemed like she was about to explode at the blonde, before a loud 'crack' but her off. Looking at the source, the students saw Andres' hand squeezing the table, cracks in the wood emanating from his fingertips.

Andres' blinked after a moment, realizing what he did, and excused himself from the table, leaving his tray behind as he stormed out of the dining hall.

Yang was the first to break the silence. "Um, what just…"

"I'll handle it," Shen interrupted, swiftly making his way towards his friends. "Can someone take some food down to Errol?" He asked as he passed by.

"Sure thing, Shen." Velvet answered. Returning to the conversation, Velvet looked to Blake. "To answer your question, yes, that was Seph's semblance."

Bouncing in her seat, Nora decided to butt in. "Oh, oh! What's it do? Invisibility? Teleportation? Illusions?"

"Actually, that's not too far from the truth. We aren't quite sure what she calls it, so we started calling it Filter."

Many at the table now looked confused. "Filter? And it's similar to an illusion?" Weiss asked.

"Somewhat. Shen's done a few tests with it and our two teams have broken down the main points. She's able to surround herself with a telepathic field of sorts. While it's up, she's unable to be picked up by any of the five major senses. Not even the senses of a faunus can detect her while it's active. Basically, she 'filters' herself from other peoples' heads."

Blake in particular seemed amazed at this prospect. "It sounds very useful. Why haven't we seen her use it in the arena?"

Shaking her head, Velvet continued the explanation. "She can't use it like that. To use Filter against someone, she can't have that person's attention to begin with. And even if it were active before a fight, she can't take any actions that would draw any sort of major attention towards her, or else the filter just collapses."

"Even so, it sounds invaluable for stealth and surprise. It makes sense why Shen calls you his scout." Ren said.

But his comment seemed to be ignored, as Sephria was in the process of making her way back into the lunch line.

"What's she up to?" Yang asked, still slightly worried from Andres' outburst.

"Getting food for Errol, I imagine. I'll probably be joining her; I need him to look over my weapon. It hasn't been working quite right, recently." Velvet said. "Now then, while we wait, why don't you all tell me a little about yourselves? All I know of you lot, I heard from Shen and Errol."

* * *

While the freshman teams became acquainted with a new friend, Andres and Shen had made their way to the Beacon locker rooms, with Andres changing into a white t-shirt and dark grey workout pants and Shen remaining in his usual combat uniform.

At the moment, the larger of the two was wailing on one of a few specialized punching bags in the training room. These bags were designed to handle the sort of stresses that only a Hunter trainee focusing in pure brute force could hope to exert, being bolted into the floor, supported by a small system of hydraulics, and constructed from specialized cushioning materials on the outside and iron sand surrounding a core of a heavy lead alloy in the center. And Andres was most certainly exerting himself.

With each hit, the bag rocked back just a little more. And as it swung back, Andres only seemed to strike it even harder than before. The sounds of each blow echoed throughout the chamber, though only one other person was around to hear it.

Shen stood off to the side, watching his teammate bloody his knuckles on the bag for the past ten minutes. The two hadn't spoken a word to each other since they entered the room. Shen knew that he only needed to let Andres vent a little, before he would open up. And Shen had a very good idea as to what the issue was.

And so, the knight kept on hitting the bag. At this point, he could hear the metal of the supports groaning. But he didn't let up. A slight change came upon the warrior at this point; a faint black haze began to coat his body, a low growl rumbled from his throat. He pulled his right arm back, and with a yell, he slammed his fist into the bag, delivering enough force to break the supports and send it flying into the wall. Iron sand and pieces of lead fell from the burst bag as it slumped into the floor, and the haze that briefly surrounded Andres dispersed, leaving him panting in exhaustion.

"I haven't seen you use your semblance like that since the week after our first mission. You usually have much better control over your Strength." Shen said, his face betraying no emotion.

Andres sat down on a bench to the side, toweling himself off and taking a swig of water.

"You feeling any better?" Shen asked, standing in front of his friend.

A moment passed, with Andres just staring at the ceiling, before he responded. "Not really."

"Do you want to tell me what's been bothering you, or do you want me to guess?"

Silence was the only response Shen received.

"Alright, a guess it is, then." The leader began to slowly pace in front of his teammate. "You've been irritable; more so than usual. And this irritation becomes worse when you're around Jaune." Andres' eyes narrowed at the mention of the name. "Your mood gets even worse when something comes up that Jaune should know about, being a prospective Hunter, yet he is entirely ignorant of the subject. You stare holes in his back when he's fighting, as though you're picking his style apart, which I've never really seen you do to anyone else before. And this all started after his first fight here, if not during his initiation. Am I missing anything?"

Andres just huffed in annoyance.

Sighing, Shen continued. "Based on all of this, I can come up with a few conclusions. But the one that makes the most sense to me is this; you figured out Arc's little secret. That he somehow faked his way into Beacon. And being partnered with one of your oldest friends, you're concerned he's going to get her hurt, or worse, just like…"

Shen wasn't nearly finished his statement before he found himself lifted up by the collar of his jacket, Andres holding him with one hand.

"Finish that thought and you're paste."

Shen didn't back down however. "If you're so concerned about this, why haven't you brought it to Goodwitch? Or better yet, why haven't you spoken to Pyrrha about it?"

Andres only tightened his grip. Shen had been hitting the nail directly on the head so far; and he knew he should have brought the issue to someone directly involved in it by now. And so a thought slid into his head.

 _"Why haven't I told anyone? By all rights, I should. So what's holding me back?"_

As Andres began to question himself, he let Shen drop to the floor and sat back down on the bench, his hands gripping his head as though he were trying to squeeze an answer out of it.

"I think I know why you've kept this to yourself," Shen said. He didn't wait to see if Andres had anything to say. "While Jaune is most likely untrained, you can tell the guy has potential. He's got more aura to throw around than you, his instincts aren't too shabby, and he's a half-decent strategist. It's his technical skill that needs work, which he can get here."

Andres looked up at his friend, a questioning glare marring his face. "Will you just get to the damn point already?"

"Fine. You have to either talk to Jaune or talk to Pyrrha. One of you two has to train him, considering the similarities among your fighting styles and armaments. And if you won't, then I'll have to bring this to Goodwitch before things turn pear-shaped for either of them."

And with that, Shen turned and left the workout room, leaving Andres to sit there with his thoughts. He would stay there for another hour, skipping a class in the process; he knew he needed to figure this out before he did anything else. And after a while, he made his decision.

And later that evening, he found himself standing in front of the door team JNPR's dorm room, his hand raised and ready to knock.

* * *

 **AN: Dizzy here!**

 **So… Volume 3 happened. Still not quite sure what to think about a few of the major events and how they'll affect this fanfic in the future. Some outcomes may change, others may stay the same. I'm going to be taking another look at my outline to see how this plays out. But I can definitively say that this series will make its major breaks from canon around Vol. 3.**

 **Next time, we see how Andres handles the events of Jaundice and Forever Fall. Meanwhile, Ruby tries to make some amends between Weiss and Errol, and we'll get to learn a little more about the burgeoning scientist. And Sephria has a little fun.**

 **See you all next time!**


	6. Building Bridges

It only took a few moments after Andres had knocked for someone to answer the door. Unfortunately, the person that answered was not whom he was hoping to speak with. Just as well, Ren was surprised by the visitor he and Nora were receiving at this time.

"Hey Ren, is Pyrrha here? I need to talk to her."

"No, she hasn't been in all night." He said, looking concerned.

Nora, currently lying on her bed, set her book down, before joining in. "We haven't seen either of them since Professor Oobleck's class. Jaune had to stay behind with Cardin and she decided to wait for him. We're not sure where they went afterwards." The worry she felt for her teammates was more than apparent. The usual cheer she exuded was subdued by the situation at hand.

"No idea at all where they might've gone? Not even a text from them?"

Ren simply shook his head. "Nothing. She might be trying to cheer Jaune up. The last few days have been somewhat trying for him."

"That's an understatement," Andres mumbled under his breath.

Knowing he couldn't just stay around, lest the two start asking questions (which he certainly didn't feel like answering), Andres decided he would have to wait until tomorrow before he could get a chance to speak in private with his friend.

"Alright. When she gets back, can you tell her I came by? If she asks why, just tell her…" He paused for a moment, pondering how he could get his message across without setting off any alarms. "Tell her it's about Hector. She'll understand what I mean."

Nodding in silent understanding, Ren let his comrade depart, while Nora's aroused curiosity led to a barrage of questions, which were thankfully muffled by the door closing.

As he made his way back to his own dorm, Andres spent the time attempting to organize his thoughts. Currently, they concerned what he was going to say to Pyrrha. He knew she wouldn't take too kindly to any sort of accusations against her team leader, and more importantly, a friend. Just as well, he knew that his mention of Hector would certainly rouse her curiosity; Andres and Pyrrha had done their best to leave that name out of any conversations they'd had for the past few months. But he also knew it would get her attention and clue her into what he knew. All he had to do at this point was wait for her to come to him.

* * *

That being said, waiting for her to actually approach him was much easier said than done. The following morning, Pyrrha was sullen and quiet, a sharp contrast from her usual calm, kind demeanor. Even more unusual was Jaune's choice of hangouts; the table frequented by one team CRDL. Andres hadn't thought it possible, but Jaune looked even more miserable than before. His eyes were constantly focused the floor, Cardin always seemed to keep him within arm's reach, and Jaune was practically acting like a lapdog for the delinquent team.

Most of the others Andres sat with were confused at the whole situation, though Errol couldn't have cared less and Shen seemed oddly reserved about it. Andres had wanted to approach Pyrrha about this turn of events, to get some answers from her. But instead, she seemed to be actively avoiding him; leaving the lunchroom early, seating herself away from him during combat class, and all but vanishing in between those times.

This would continue on for the next few days, with Pyrrha becoming increasingly distant, her friends becoming increasingly worried, and Jaune still essentially absent. Andres had seen this happen before; not in the exact same circumstances, but the pieces were still there. And he knew he needed to nip this in the bud before something happened that couldn't be fixed.

So, on the third afternoon of the continuing situation, as soon as his final class was released, Andres made his way to team JNPR's dorm and planted himself in front of their door. And then he waited. And waited. And waited. Until around 5 in the evening, he heard the soft thumping of heels against the carpet. As Pyrrha rounded the corner, Andres rose to his full height and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Get your weapons. We're going to the arena, working out some of that stress, and then, we're going to talk. Now come on." He could have ground stone into dust with the tone he was using. It conveyed everything he needed to without having to form the exact syllables: that she was going to listen to him, and that was final. A scowl forming on her countenance, she simply followed him to the lockers.

* * *

In the meantime, many other people on campus were up to their own devices. For instance, one partnership, consisting of a certain weapons nerd and an heiress, were making their way through one of the lower levels of Beacon's Science and Technology wing. The older of the two was still in the dark about why they'd had to venture down there at all. And that fact was grating on her nerves.

"Are you ever going to tell why you've decided to drag me down here?" Weiss said, growing ever impatient with her team leader.

"Weiss, c'mon, I told you this morning." Ruby's poor attempt at an innocent smile to punctuate that statement only served to tell Weiss that the young girl was up to something.

"No," she dryly replied, "you haven't. You pulled me out of the library, away from the assignment we were supposed to be working on for Professor Goodwitch, saying, and I quote: 'There's something important we have to take care of in the Dust labs.' All the while, you've been dodging my questions."

The heiress could tell her partner was starting to crack. Ruby was taking care to avoid looking directly at her and a few beads of sweat were starting to form on her brow. A little more pressure, and she'd spill everything. So Weiss decided to emulate her own sister a bit; her eyes narrowed to near slits, her mouth set in a firmly neutral position, head slightly cocked to the left, and her arms crossed in front of her torso. It never failed to get Weiss to fess up to a lie back home. Why shouldn't it work on her friend?

And work it did. Ruby's resolve was swiftly buckling under the glare being leveled at her. It reminded her all too well of the look Shen and her father would give her when they knew she'd been sneaking sweets from the kitchen in the middle of the night. It never failed to get her to admit her thefts in the past, and Weiss was certainly doing an excellent job capturing that feeling. The pseudo-staring contest lasted for another 30 seconds before Ruby finally cracked.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you! Just stop with the look! Please!"

Weiss complied with the request, her glare morphing into a satisfied smirk.

Sighing, Ruby looked down at the ground, before continuing. "We're going to the lab Errol's set up in."

With the mention of that name, a frown quickly returned to Weiss' face, followed up with her turning about face, entirely prepared to leave for her dorm.

"Weiss, wait! At least let me explain! Alright?"

Shoulders slumping in reluctance, Weiss turned to face Ruby once more. "You have two minutes. Start talking."

A slight nod was all Ruby could muster, as she addressed her friend. "Well, it's just… This whole thing going on with Pyrrha acting so weird, and Jaune avoiding us all the time has got me really worried. It feels like we all just became friends and now we're just all of a sudden drifting apart. I want to try and make sure that doesn't actually happen. I saw Andres sitting in front of JNPR's dorm earlier today, and he told me was waiting for Pyrrha to show up so he could talk to her. And that got me thinking, 'well, if he's trying to help his friend out with her problems, I should try to help my friends too.'"

"I still don't see what this has to do with me and that ingrate."

"Weiss, you haven't spoken to Errol since the first week of classes and he sits at our table practically every other day. He hardly has any friends to begin with and I just thought you guys would get along pretty well if you actually talked to each other."

Weiss wasn't having any of that, however. "That fool embarrassed me in front of the entire class after making a mockery of the duel we were supposed to be having. He has yet to even offer me an apology."

"Does he know that you want one?" Ruby asked.

That certainly took Weiss by surprise. Even Ruby's tone was unexpected. The younger girl almost sounded serious; as though the thought that Errol had wronged Weiss just hadn't crossed his mind. The very idea seemed impossible to her.

"Weiss, Errol's worse than I am when it comes to people." That, Weiss did not have trouble believing. "I have trouble meaningful conversations and trying to not steer a discussion towards Crescent Rose or being a Huntress. Errol has trouble understanding how other people actually feel and think. It's almost impossible for him to understand figures of speech, or read body language, or find anything outside of a scientific journal or a piece of technology interesting. The only reason he gets along so well with Yang, Shen, and I is that he's had years to get to know us."

Weiss' frown was starting to fade at this point. The information Ruby was presenting was starting to paint a very familiar picture. The description of Errol's "difficulties" was quite reminiscent of those her father demonstrated at times: distant, literal minded, obsessed with the company to point of neglecting his own family. It all reminded her of a little girl, standing in her father's study, while trying to show off a new song she had recently learned, only to be off-handily dismissed and ordered to leave the room.

Weiss was forced to shove those thoughts aside for the moment, however, as Ruby was still talking.

"Errol's never really had anyone that can keep up with him in a conversation that he actually enjoys. Even Shen can barely keep his attention. I just thought, y'know, with how smart you are, that you two might really get along once you start talking. He's had all these great ideas, but no one can actually understand what he's talking about when he…"

Ruby was cut off by Weiss' hand, raised right in front of her face, palm facing outward, indicating that it was her turn to speak.

"We'll stay in the lab for an hour, and then we leave. I will try to be patient with him and explain everything clearly, and hopefully, I can clear some of the air between the two of us. Okay?"

The younger girl brightened up instantly with that declaration, nodding furiously in the affirmative. With a bright smile on her face, Ruby grabbed Weiss' wrist and pulled her along the hallway, towards their destination.

"I swear you won't regret this, Weiss. You'll be amazed by what he has in there! Let's go!"

Knowing she wouldn't be able to sway Ruby at this point, all Weiss could manage was to do her best to keep up with the girl's pace.

* * *

Over by the dining hall, another member of SBLE was beginning to make her own trek over to the Science and Technology Wing. Unlike Ruby and Weiss however, Sephria was baring gifts. Or dinner, at least. Carefully balanced on a plastic dining tray was more than enough food for two, including some of Errol's personal favorites, and she planned to let none of it go to waste. Her friend had lost weight over the break and for a potential Hunter, that was an issue needing addressed. If he was going to be able to keep up during missions, he was going to have to pack on a few pounds. And if Andres was too busy to take care of this, and her own partner indisposed as well, she was going to have to pick up the slack.

Not that she entirely minded spending time with Errol. In fact, she was more than looking forward to spending time with him. Alone. In his lab. For hours. Over the course of their first year as a team, Sephria had developed quite the crush on the young man. And in the last couple of months of the previous semester, she'd done more than her fair share of flirtation towards him. Keeping her gaze on him slightly longer than necessary, batting her eyes a little more, slight changes in her posture; yet nothing got through. The boy was denser than lead, and had the emotional intelligence of the stuff, to boot.

She'd become so desperate to get a reaction from him in the past that upon completing one of their final field assignments last semester, she'd hugged him, bringing his face directly into her chest. And still, she got nothing, not even a hint of a blush. Her friends, along with many of the other second years, were aware of this ongoing struggle, and they even had a betting pool going, with students placing bets on when she'd get him to finally notice her. At this point, Sephria was hoping to end this impasse as soon as possible, if only to spite the others that low-balled her chances.

Lost in her dreams of romance, she failed to notice the group of students gathering behind an upcoming corner. If she were paying attention, she would have known that Team CRDL, along with Jaune, had been tracking her since she left the dining hall. Over the past couple nights, Cardin and his friends had been planning to get even with Jaune's friends for the incidents in the cafeteria and Oobleck's class. Holding the threat of blackmail and expulsion over Jaune's head, they were able to piece together who had a hand in the mess in the cafeteria, with Cardin making a list of whom to target for payback. However, they knew they couldn't just go after Andres or Coco; even CRDL knew that they wouldn't last long if they managed to piss off either of them. That put Sephria, the one that let Coco get to them, at the top of the list.

Currently, the five boys were lying in wait for her, ready to ruin her evening. At least, four of them were ready, anyway.

"Cardin, seriously, do we really need to go through with this? All she did was pull Velvet away. She didn't even touch you guys." Jaune, currently pleading the case to NOT go through with their plans for revenge, wasn't doing much to dissuade the hoodlums. Unfortunately, his voice was falling on deaf ears. Cardin and his friends had been dealing with ridicule from the other students ever since the cafeteria incident and they had grown sick and tired of it.

"Jaune, Jaune, you gotta understand. If you want to show everyone just where you stand in this school, you need to establish yourself. And what better way to do so, than to take down the big-wigs in the area. And this is where we start. Now, you can lend a hand, or you can get out of the way. You try to stop us, I'm going straight to Goodwitch. Got it?"

Jaune could only look back at the ground after that, as he stood aside and let the boys leave the corner and surround Sephria. Still daydreaming, she didn't notice the boys until she bumped, tray first, into Cardin's chest. Luckily, she managed to maintain her balance and not spill or drop any food from it.

"Now that wasn't very polite. Didn't your mother ever teach you to apologize when you run into someone?" He asked, with sarcasm and feigned hurt.

Sephria wasn't paying him much attention though. The only thing on her mind was getting some alone time with Errol. Honestly, she didn't even quite understand why Cardin and his friends seemed to be ganging up on her. She could see Jaune sulking a ways past Cardin, obviously downtrodden. Maybe she could see what was bothering him, she thought to herself.

The boys surrounding her took her silence for something else, however.

"What's the matter, too embarrassed to apologize? Or are you supposed to be like that Schnee girl; too uptight to speak with us common-folk?" Sky taunted her, just waiting for the irritated outburst or the whimper of fear. Yet still, the girl remained silent, still trying to move around Cardin.

"Hey, are you listening? We're talking to you!" The boys' patience was starting to wear thin. Either the girl was deaf, stupid, or stuck-up, but either way, they were getting tired of having no reaction from their target.

"Alright, enough playing around," Cardin said, his attitude suddenly taking a turn for the more serious. With little forewarning, he swiftly brought his hand down against one of Sephria's, knocking loose her grip on the tray of food and sending it all clattering to the floor, the sound of dishes and glasses breaking echoing through the area. "You and your friends did some real damage to our reputation around campus, and the boys and I want to fix that."

The tirade that followed, while eloquent for Cardin, went entirely ignored as far as his target was concerned. All Sephria could concentrate on was the scattered food at her feet, and the shattering of her plans for the evening. She wouldn't be able to get a meal like that together again tonight; she'd spent the rest of her daily meal allowance on it. All of her preparation had been wasted. And then, she shifted her gaze towards Cardin. It's his fault, the girl thought to herself. He ruined a perfectly good romantic dinner with the object of her affections, and wasn't even sorry for it. She wasn't paying attention to what he said, but she knew he had more in mind than simply messing with her like this. He was beginning to lean in towards her, a smirk crossing his face. She wouldn't let this opportunity he was giving her go to waste; before his friends could jump her, she would make the first move.

Slowly, so as to not draw attention to the limb, she balled her left hand into a loose fist and steeled the muscles in her limbs and core. While slightly shifting the positioning of her feet, she brought to mind the lessons beaten into her as a child; on how to properly manipulate one's aura, to harden it, sharpen it, use it as more than a simple shield. His head was almost in the right position. It moved a little lower, and with a twitch of the muscles in her arm, the fist swiftly began travelling upwards.

Cardin couldn't have seen the blow coming; her fist all but a blur as it shot up towards his chin. It would have been a beautiful sight, to see him get what he rightly deserved, if only someone hadn't interrupted just as the blow was about to connect.

"Seph!"

She knew that voice, and what it meant; to stop before she did something that couldn't be taken back. With discipline seen in a rare few students, she halted her strike, mere millimeters from her target. The draft from her fist even managed to tussle Cardin's hair slightly, his face frozen in a nervous grin. From behind, Sephria could hear two others approaching the scene, one set of footsteps much lighter than the other.

"He's not worth the trouble," Shen said, quickly pacing towards the group with a stern looking Velvet following right behind him. "Now, kindly let my teammate go, or I bring a teacher into this little discussion."

He openly held his scroll to the side, with a number already dialed in and his thumb hovering over the call button. With trepidation over what almost happened to their leader, Sky and Dove stepped aside, allowing Velvet to quickly rush to Sephria's side and drag her away from the group. Sephria left with some hesitation, wearing a snarl of anger while tears brimmed in her eyes. All the while, her gaze never broke away from Cardin, all that anger directed right at him.  
"Velvet," Shen said, "take her to your room and let her cool off. I'll handle this."

Quietly nodding at him, she took Sephria by the arm and began to lead her to the dorms, while trying to soothe the girl, who was on the verge of outright crying. "C'mon Seph, Coco and I'll take good care of you. We even have some of that cookie dough ice cream you love."

As the girls rounded the corner, Shen kept himself situated between them and team CRDL, who were still somewhat in shock. None of them were more stunned than Cardin though, who could feel every nerve where Sephria's fist would have connected firing on all cylinders. He'd even managed to feel his aura parting away as her attack drew closer, losing the protection that all Hunters instinctively possessed. Fear was worming through their minds, and Shen intended to not let that fear go to waste.

"Twice now, you've tried pushing around my friends. People that could send all four of you packing on their own. And to be honest, I'm actually sort of impressed. I've never seen Seph worked up quite like that before. But here's the real problem; you boys seem to have it in your collective heads that you somehow stand above all of the other students in this school. Now, I don't know what gave you guys that idea, so let me educate you a little." The members of CRDL were frozen, chills running down their spines as Shen spoke, his own voice liked sharpened steel. "If Velvet and I hadn't stepped in, you four would most likely be on your way to the infirmary for the better part of the week. Now, so far, you've tried pushing your weight around on people that either can't or don't like to fight back. But tonight, you got a taste of what can happen when you start to get cocky. There are students in this school that would like nothing more than an excuse to cut loose once in a while. A few of my own friends fall in that category. And for the trouble you've been causing recently, a few twisted ears are nothing, compared to what they could bring down on you."

Feeling that most of the point had gotten across, Shen decided to wrap up his speech.

"Now, if I hear about any of you four trying to push around my friends again, our next conversation won't be nearly this civil. And you will not enjoy the experience."

With that, he turned on his heel and began to make his exit. As he walked away, a scowl began to grow on Cardin's face, his anger over the repeated insults he'd been forced to endure this week reaching a boiling point.

With an enraged yell, he charged at the retreating team leader, fully prepared to make Shen regret crossing him. However, as he approached the target, without even looking over his shoulder, Shen ducked under the incoming blow. Crouched low to the ground, Shen quickly spun on his heel, while sweeping out with his leg, catching Cardin off balance and sending him crashing back-first to the floor.

Shen didn't spend another glance, nor a single word, for Cardin, instead simply transitioning from the leg sweep to resuming the trek to his room. As for Team CRDL, after a moment of stunned silence, they made a hasty retreat to their own dorm, where they would revise their revenge list, removing a couple names and at the same time, adding a new name to the list.

* * *

While all of these events were occurring, two students were duking it out in one of the many practice arenas on the campus. At the moment, it looked to be an even match between to the two; a slash from a short sword would be blocked by a large shield, a powerful stab from a greatsword swiftly avoided, all the moves flowing into a refined dance of forged steel between two skilled combatants.

There was an unspoken rule to the duel between the two: no semblances. Their auras could be used for basic physical enhancements and healing their wounds, but that was it. From there, the outcome on the match rested on the skills and strength the warriors possessed.

The battle had lasted for over 10 minutes at this point, and to any casual observer, it seemed as though it would have no definitive end in sight. However, one of the combatants was growing tired of the stalemate and began to step up the assault.

Face marred by a harsh frown, the fighter's attacks began to increase in speed and ferocity, tossing away the usual grace and technique she would demonstrate before a crowd. Her opponent had little opportunity to respond to the barrage, instead forced to cower behind his shield and his armor; his usual answer to a faster opponent. Slashes with her sword, strikes and stabs with her spear, and shots from her rifle. They all failed to pierce his defense. Out of all the warriors they had both faced, these two understood how the other fought more so than any other; their favored angles of attack, their defensive strengths, the intricacies of their weapons, every possible detail two old friends could possibly know about each other.

It was through this deep knowledge that Andres saw how Pyrrha was beginning to slip up. That grace was one of her greater assets in combat; the ability to smoothly transition between movements and attacks, to flawlessly control her entire body. By abandoning it for sheer power, she was leaving herself relatively stationary.

He knew how to deal with opponents like that.

Shifting his stance, he firmly braced his shield with the entirety of his left arm and shoulder, before surging forward in a burst of motion.

His opponent, focused only on her own thoughts, was caught flat-footed by the shield charge and propelled straight into the wall behind her.

Still dazed from the blow, Andres follow-up went uninterrupted. Quickly closing the distance between himself and Pyrrha, he shifted the positioning of his shield, setting it into a horizontal angle, instead of its usual vertical. Coming in low, he scooped up his opponent on his shield by her chest and pinned her to the wall. The consecutive impacts, combined with her own somewhat reduced state of readiness, forced Pyrrha to drop her weapons, leaving her with only the muscles in her limbs to struggle against the slab of metal pressing into her chest.

Her struggles were cut short however, when she saw the large blade of her opponent pointed right at her. A simple statement was all that was said from him:

"Yield."

Not a question. A question implied a chance of escape from this situation, a way to victory for her. But with semblances revoked for this fight, her weapons out of reach, and Andres' own superior physical strength, she had no out.

And so, with her muscles relaxing, she silently nodded in the affirmative. Taking that as her concession, Andres backed off, releasing her from the wall and allowing her to fall to the floor, gasping for full breaths of air now that the pressure on her chest was gone.

With the adrenaline rush fading away, Pyrrha could feel the full effects of the exertion she had just put herself through, with the rage she had felt in the moment washing away as well. Her head was clear, her thoughts were calm, and after three many days of anxiety and bitterness, she finally had felt a little bit of peace.

It was then that she noticed an armored hand reaching out in front of her face, as if asking to be grasped. She looked up into her friend's eyes.

"So, you finally ready to talk?"

* * *

 **AN: I LIIIIIIIIVE! Sorry it's been so long guys. A mixture of schoolwork, vacations, and outright laziness, along with some trouble with the overall flow of this chapter, put it on a HEAVY delay. This chapter has been more for character development, along with setting up a future plot line or two.**

 **Next time, we'll see just how Weiss and Ruby's chat with Errol has gone, as well as how Seph and Pyrrha are dealing with their own problems. Meanwhile, Shen looks to be up to something.**


	7. Building Bridges, Part 2

When Weiss had first entered Errol's lab, she certainly didn't expect to be so awestruck. Though if she had given it any prior thought, she likely wouldn't have been so surprised.

The lab looked as though a typhoon had torn through it, with random papers, food wrappers, discarded writing utensils, and empty vials scattered all over the floor and furniture, which included a couple of lab tables and stools, and a small cot in one corner of the room. What could have passed for pristine white walls at one point, were now marked with miscellaneous diagrams, notes, and formulas. In the far corner on the left, a pile of parts that looked to belong to a vehicle of sorts sat collecting dust. About the only items that looked to be in good condition were the various pieces of equipment meticulously organized on the lab tables. Scales, beakers, and vials for measuring amounts of Dust, a grinder meant to safely break down whole crystals into refined powder, a small lathe for shaping crystals, and various hand tools for carving, chipping, and inspecting, along with other devices Weiss had trouble recognizing. The left side of the room was taken over by two racks: one filled with Dust powders and crystals, many of which bore colors and shades that weren't seen in the common market, and the other lined with Dust rounds of varying caliber, including some that looked to be more fit for an artillery launcher. On the right, larger equipment took up the available space. This included a workbench bearing various sizes of bullet casings and machinery for constructing the rounds, and a device that Weiss had couldn't make heads or tails of; at first glance, it looked to be some sort of oven, yet it had large seals on the door and what looked to be various gauges next to a few dials.

In the middle of all this chaos, Errol sat at one of the center tables, hunched over his notebook, a microscope, and a small computer. So engrossed in his work was he, that he failed to notice the two girls entering the lab in the first place.

Weiss' next reaction had corrected that, when two large white mice scurried between her feet and towards Errol, eventually climbing up onto the young man's shoulders without any hesitation.

She'd practically gone into conniptions at that point, breaking Errol from his concentration and ended up forcing him and Ruby to assist her in cleaning up the area for the next twenty minutes. Though not without his own protestations, claiming he was nearing a critical juncture in his research.

During the cleanup, Weiss took a little extra time to examine the papers she had picked up, along with the writing Errol had left on the walls. During that time, she realized that Ruby and Yang may not have been exaggerating all that much when it came to Errol's capabilities; while she certainly understood much of what was written despite his terrible penmanship and shorthand, many of the concepts and designs threw her entirely off balance. Much of what he had written down seemed to reflect concepts and theories that researchers she personally knew at the SDC had spent years working on, yet Errol had put just as much, if not more detail put into them than the company itself had. There were conceptual formulas for Dust that could carry oxygen similarly to hemoglobin, force air to condense into a solid medium, and even alter the mass of affected objects. She found designs for advanced communication systems, an artillery shell comprised of smaller projectiles, and even what looked to be blueprints for the school's lockers.

It left Weiss with so many questions to ask the young man, and when they finally sat down, she did not hold back. Forgetting the reason why Ruby had brought her there in the first place, she began interrogating Errol on the designs scattered about the place. Each question she posed would devolve into a brief debate over the chemistry and mechanics behind his ideas.

Unfortunately, aside from any engineering feats that were mentioned, most of what the Dust experts were talking about flew right over Ruby's head, quickly leaving her bored. And so, as she would usually do when bored, Ruby began to roam around the lab, slowly drifting towards the shelf of Dust rounds. The other two in the room paid no mind to her, though; they were too engrossed in their own conversation.

As she approached the shelves, she began to take in how they were organized. Each row contained a specific type of Dust, with the columns separating out the caliber of the rounds. The pure vials of Dust were on the left, with the type of ammunition changing as one travelled along the columns. There were simple styles of rounds, with such labels as Electric, Gravity, Fire, and Ice. The names she did not equate to a simple element, Ruby figured, were Errol's personal mixtures; these included such names as "Lockdown," "Glacier," "Flash-Burst," and "Live Bait."

But Ruby's eyes were drawn towards a specific shelf, near the top. What set this apart from the others was the labeling for the ammo; the pure Dust canisters were labeled as "Hellfire," containing a lightish-red Dust that almost seemed to glow with power. Further along the shelf were only two varieties of solid ammunition: rifle caliber rounds and a few artillery shells, both labeled with the same moniker: "Piecemaker." This was what Ruby had been looking for. Slowly, she reached out for the rifle rounds, her desire to actually handle one of Errol's personal Dust rounds overriding common sense. As her fingers neared the ammo, she could feel the faint heat pulsating off of the rounds, warming the area around them. They were so close, just within reach if she stood on the tips of her toes.

"Don't touch that!" Errol suddenly shouted. Startled, Ruby jumped as far away from the shelf as possible and to the nearest safe spot she could imagine; namely, Weiss' arms.

Weiss didn't take this too well however. She could hear the stool she had been sitting on creaking under the increased weight. "Ruby, you dolt! Get off of me!"

Realizing how she looked at this point, Ruby quickly acquiesced, releasing her grip around her partner's neck and softly landing on the floor.

Errol's reaction, by far the most emotional she'd seen him get at that point, piqued Weiss' curiosity. "Is there something special about those rounds?" she asked.

With a dramatic flair, Errol pointed to the shelf containing the "Hellfire" dust. "That," he said, "Is the most potent, unstable, and dangerous Dust compound I've ever created. On its own, it generates an intense flame that flows like a cloud of volcanic ash, alters the gravity of objects caught in the flame, and has been outright banned for use by order of Headmaster Ozpin. As for the rounds, Shen and Ozpin have forbidden me from sharing how they work, along with the formula for Hellfire. What I can tell you is that they might be among the most powerful explosives in Remnant. The only time I've ever fired one of these things was during initiation last year, and the explosion wiped out most the Grimm we were fighting, reduced the forest temple to ruins, and almost killed Team CFVY and us."

As the monologue went on, Errol's voice seemed to fill with pride over his creation, touting the destructive capabilities it supposedly possessed. His audience could tell that even if his claims were exaggerated, he certainly believed in what he had made.

Dots began to connect in Weiss' mind, all the details she'd possessed beforehand finally making sense.

"That's the item the SDC has been hounding you about, isn't it?"

Ruby turned to her partner, confused. "What are you talking about, Weiss?"  
Going into lecturer mode, Weiss began to elaborate. "Last year, I overheard my father speaking with some of the members of our board of directors. Apparently, they had been attempting to purchase the design and formula for a new explosive a student at Beacon had demonstrated during the initiation last year. Ozpin stonewalled them long enough for the student to get the materials patented and protected. Father was… annoyed, to say the least."

Errol chuckled at that last comment. "Oh, quite the understatement! You should have seen some of the offers they sent me. All of the zeroes on the checks they sent, high level positions in their labs, stock options!"  
This was the first time Ruby had heard any of this. It was mind-boggling; the rewards he was mentioning sounded like the stuff of his dreams. "Why would you turn all of that down?" Ruby asked.

"It just didn't interest me. People like that would've wanted me to work on their own projects, restricting my own work, and I wouldn't be able to control how my inventions were used. Some of the materials here could cause some serious damage if they aren't properly cared for. And even then, I just don't feel like taking chances like that right now. I risked enough coming here two years early-"

"What?" Weiss asked flatly, the enthusiasm drained from her voice.

Ruby, feeling the need to explain, quickly turned to her partner. "Some of the professors from Beacon will scout out the training academies for new students. Professor Ozpin visited Signal while Errol was attending and snuck a peek at his notebook. He offered Errol an early acceptance into Beacon and a scholarship for his work."

Weiss was pinching the bridge of her nose at this point. "You stop a robbery and fail to catch the scoundrel leading it, while he gets his notes peeked at, and you both get in early. What in the world is wrong with that man?"

"I think you'll find that the headmasters of the major academies all have their quirks. Probably a requirement for the job." Errol said without hesitation.

Weiss was about to question that assertion when Errol's scroll went off, sending out a short series of beeps. Holding up his index finger to silence the girls, he pulled out the device and checked the message he had just received, reading in silence for a moment. Pocketing the device afterwards, he looked towards the partners, his face looking somewhat more serious than before.

"Sorry, but we're going to have to call it a night for now. Shen wants to go over potential mission assignments for the weekend with the team."

Ruby's eyes grew ever wider with that statement. "Missions?! You guys already get to go on missions?!"  
Weiss turned to her teammate. "Of course they can. If you had read the school's handbook like I had told you to, you would know that after their first semester, students may elect to go on supervised missions with a professor, or unsupervised excursions with permission from the headmaster. Doing so allows them to gain real-world experience, and earn a modest sum for their work."  
It was Errol's turn to look surprised at this point. "That's… almost word-for-word from the student handbook. You actually memorized it? I thought Shen was the only one with the patience for that sort of thing."

Weiss was fully ready to respond with her own barb against Errol, but he went right on talking. "Now, before I forget and you both leave, I have a little something-something for you, Ruby." Getting up and walking over to one of the various cabinets in the room, Errol extracted two boxes of what looked to be ammunition.

Ruby's eyes were sparkling with excitement over the gifts. "Are… are those… ?"  
The young man handed over the first box, marked with a black circle surrounded by four arrows pointing inward. "Newly minted Propulsion rounds for Crescent Rose; should give her an extra kick in a pinch. And before I give you these," he gestured to the second box he carried, marked by a flaming skull, "I need you to promise to only use these as a last resort, 'you-will-die-if-you-don't-use-these' situation and only then. Do you promise?"

Nodding so fast her face became a blur, Errol carefully handed over the second box of ammo.

Her eyes practically shining as she accepted the gift, she leapt up and wrapped her arms around him in a bone-crushing grip. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Yrgh!" Errol could barely breathe as Ruby's iron grip tightened around his throat. Seeing that their host was uncomfortable and that it was time for them to depart, Weiss grabbed Ruby by the scruff of her cape and pried her off of Errol, dragging her out the door while bidding him farewell. As they left, Errol could still hear Ruby murmuring 'thank you' as they travelled down the hall.

Errol had smiled softly at the girls as they left his lab, though it faded as soon as he lost sight of them. Turning back to his table, he began packing up his equipment, storing some items into the table, while hiding other vials and his notebook in his coat.

With everything safely put away, he got up and left the lab, making sure to lock the door behind him. As he made his way back to team SBLE's dorm room, he pulled out his scroll and double-checked the message he had received. And as he read it, his curiosity only began to rise.

* * *

Andres hadn't spent much time with the girl he considered his best friend this past year; not that it was entirely his fault. Going to Beacon a year before your friends would do that to just about anyone. Combine that with some of the events from that year away, and the few times he had seen her before the start of the semester, he hadn't exactly been himself at the time.

But today was different. He'd had plenty of time to get over last year's troubles, his friend was here in front of him, and he was ready to listen to what she had to say. That was when he remembered; once Pyrrha started gushing, there wasn't much he could do to stop her.

Like a dam bursting wide open, Pyrrha had spent the past half-hour or so giving Andres every single detail of her interactions with her team's… leader (he still had trouble wrapping his head around the idea of Jaune being her boss) these past few days. Starting from the incident with Velvet in the cafeteria, the night on the rooftop, Jaune's dismissal of her aid, and the distance he had created between them since then. Every emotion, every thought, it all came rushing out in a torrent that threatened to overwhelm the armored warrior.

And through it all, he just sat there and listened. He didn't interrupt, he didn't judge, and he didn't look away. After a year's worth of avoidance, Andres wasn't going to let her go now.

Pyrrha had held up fairly well throughout her tirade, all things considered. But as she was winding down, Andres could see how bloodshot her eyes were with stress, the faint hint of tears building up in the corners.

"Every night this week, he comes back to the room just as the rest of us are laying down, and he just sits at his desk and starts working on his own assignments. No greeting, not a single word to us. And we'll wake up the next morning with him asleep at his desk. Whatever Cardin's doing to him, it's wearing him out. At this rate, he'll never be in shape for our first field assignment. I just… I don't know what to do."

Andres could hear her voice straining with each sentence; he'd never heard her sound so defeated before. Digesting everything that he'd heard so far was no easy task. He wanted to throttle both Jaune and Cardin. The former for brushing aside his partner's concerns so caustically, the latter for the never-ending troubles he seemed to keep stirring up. For a minute, Andres just sat there, thinking about how he could help his friend.

Sighing, he looked up at his friend with tired eyes. "Pyrrha," he said. "What do you expect me to do about it?"

He held up his hand, silently asking for her to allow him to continue. "He's your leader, your partner, your friend. He's gotten himself into this mess, and honestly, I couldn't care less about him. If he can't stand up to a worm like Cardin, then I don't know if he belongs here."

Pulling his friend up as he stood up, he grabbed Pyrrha by the shoulders. "But, I can tell that you care about him. So here's what you're going to do: you're going to go right to CRDL's room, drag your partner out of there, and talk some goddamn sense into him. And if he still won't listen to you, then I'll twist his head on straight and force him to listen. Got it?"

He could see that she was beginning to feel emboldened, but still, something held her back.

"I just… he said he doesn't want help. What if he won't…"

"Won't what? Let you help him? What the hell is he going to do to stop you? What is Cardin going to do? You are Pyrrha goddamn Nikos! Nobody in this entire school could keep up with you! What can they do to stop you?"

"Nothing?" She said, quietly, almost hesitantly.

"Speak up, I can't hear you."

"Nothing." Her voice was growing, her confidence rising.

"You still don't sound convinced. I asked you, what the hell can CRDL do to stop you?"

Standing tall and firm, looking directly into the eyes of her friend, she responded as though letting out a war-cry, "Nothing!"

Finally, a response he could get behind. A rare smile breaking across Andres' face, he pointed towards the exit of the arena. "Then what are you waiting for? Go get him!"

Grunting in affirmation, Pyrrha turned about face and marched towards her destination, the fire in her eyes rekindled.

As she turned the corner, Andres reached for his scroll, having felt it silently vibrate while he was giving his pep talk. He opened up the 'recent messages' application, and his eyes narrowed as he read.

* * *

Back in the freshman dorms, a pencil clattered to the floor, as its owner sighed and slumped in exhaustion. Turning around in his chair, with a sheaf of papers in his hands, Jaune addressed the other residents of the room.

"Alright Cardin, I've finished your team's assignments for Dr. Oobleck's class and our waivers for Professor Peach's trip this weekend are filled out," Jaune sighed, clearly exhausted both mentally and physically, "Now can I leave? You've been working me to the bone all week."

Cardin brought his hand up to his chin in mock thought. "Hmmm," he smirked, "You make a good point there, Jaune."

"I do?" Jaune gawked, not expecting the response he was given.

"The boys and I have been working real hard these past few days. So I'll make you another deal?" Cardin grinned with anticipation, "Since I'm feeling generous, if you help us out with one more thing tonight, you'll have all day tomorrow off. You can do whatever you want and we won't bother you."

Even after hearing those terms, Jaune knew in his gut that what Cardin had in store would not be pleasant. But he knew he had no choice but to play along at this point. Steeling himself, he looked his tormentor in the eyes with defeat and sighed. "What do need me to do?"

"Ah-hem?" Cardin grunted, wearing that same, self-satisfied smirk.

"What do you need me to do, sir?" Jaune sighed.

Leaning back in his chair, Cardin crossed his arms behind his head, resting his neck on his wrists. "It's pretty simple, actually. All I need you to do is…"

*Knock-knock-knock*

A light tapping came from the door, bringing the conversation to a grinding halt. The boys in the room all looked at each other confused; nobody expected anyone to come calling at this time of the evening.

*Bam-bam-bam*

Whoever it was at the door was evidently becoming impatient, the knocking having grown louder. "Will someone get the door?" Cardin demanded.

Russell, as the closest person available, grumbled as he moved for the door, the knocking continuing to resonate through the room. As he opened the door, all Russell saw was a shock of red hair, before the person in question grabbed him by his collar and brought him down to her level. His own eyes, wide with shock, stared into the angriest pair of iridescent green eyes he'd ever seen.

"I need to speak with Jaune." She was calm. Almost eerily so. Russell could see a cold, cold fire burning behind her eyes and he desperately wanted not be the one to get burned.

Quickly nodding, he moved out of Pyrrha's way as she stormed past him. Her gaze softening as she caught sight of Jaune, Pyrrha all but flew to him, grabbing him by the sleeve of his hoodie and pulling him up out of his chair.

"Pyrrha? What are you…?" "Not now, Jaune. I need you to come with me." Her tone of voice was the embodiment of silk hiding steel, soft with a strict undertone that would not condone any protest. As she moved to drag her partner out of that den of wolves, she felt a large hand clamp down on her shoulder.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Cardin smirked, feeling quite in control of the situation at hand. Had he bothered to pay more attention to his surroundings, or the panicked reactions of his teammates, he would have noticed some of the smaller metal objects lying around begin to slowly rattle, a faint black aura surrounding them. He did notice Pyrrha's eyes harden once more, fixing an icy glare straight into his own eyes.

"I'm taking my friend," she spat the word at him with emphasis, "back to our room. Now take your hand off me, and let us leave." There was no waver in her voice, no hesitation in her eyes; she meant to leave with her leader and she wasn't going to let Cardin stop her.

"Now I can't do that just yet. Jauney-boy here still needs to run a few errands for me. And I'd hate to see what'd happen if he wasn't able to lend a hand." He mockingly stated, practically begging Pyrrha to respond with her following question.

"What are you talking about, Cardin?"

"Well, I suppose it won't hurt to let you in on this, seeing as Jaune told you first. I was just minding my own business the other night, enjoying my thoughts with a nice breeze from the window, when I overheard the most peculiar conversation coming from the roof. You're offering to _help_ the poor guy, to personally train him, and how does he respond?"

Dread filled Pyrrha's heart, as she vividly remembered that conversation; the moment everything had changed for team JNPR, for her and Jaune.

"He tells you everything: how he didn't go to combat school, how he faked his transcripts, how he lied to get his way into a Hunter Academy. I had to admit, I was impressed. He's either the bravest, or the dumbest person in the kingdom if he thought he could make it here without any prior training. So, out of the kindness of my heart," he said with false remorse, "I decided to give him a hand. He's helping me and the boys out now, learning valuable skills, getting the best tutoring, and in return, I make sure Madame Goodwitch doesn't find out about his 'status.'"

It all made sense to Pyrrha now; at the very least, Jaune had to know that being caught entering a Hunter Academy under false pretenses came with harsh punishments.

"Now, I get that you don't want to see him leave. I don't either; he's been such a good friend these past few days, I couldn't bear to see him go." His smile started to turn predatory at this point. "So, how's about we work out a little arrangeme-"  
A swift motion removed Cardin's hand from Pyrrha's shoulder, followed up with an open hand striking across his cheek.

"No," the red-trussed warrior stated. A black haze slowly began to build up around the large boy's armor. "There will be no more arrangements, no more late nights helping _your_ team out with _your_ work, and no more blackmailing my friend."

"Oh? So what's keeping me from ratting out our friend here, then?" Cardin was finding it difficult to adopt a more threatening posture, as his armor seemed to have grown quite stiff at the moment, but he managed as best he could.

"It's simple. You tell Professor Goodwitch about Jaune, I tell her about your actions regarding Jaune's status. And I know she takes matters such as these quite seriously. So here are _my_ terms: after tonight, we part ways. Our two teams never speak to each other again, barring any assignments from the professors. We will not bother each other any longer. You stop harassing my friends, and my friends will stop humiliating you. Whichever team breaks this truce first will not be able to complain about any retaliation. Is that acceptable?"

Jaune was stunned, to say the least. He'd never seen anyone speak to, let alone strike, a bully like that in his entire life. It was… inspiring, to say the least.

Pyrrha did not wait for Cardin's response. After delivering her ultimatum, she turned on her heels and grabbed Jaune's shirt as she pivoted, moving towards the door with her partner.  
"Good," she spat with venom at the other boys in the room. "We're leaving, Jaune."

"Ow! Hey! Pyrrha! Not so hard!" Similar protests were heard as the two travelled down the hall away from the offending dorm.

As they left, Cardin felt the pressure on his armor lift, feeling the freedom of movement return to his limbs. The other boys in the room turned to look at their leader.

"What the hell are you looking at? Get our stuff together. If that uptight bitch thinks she's going to get away with this, she's dead wrong. And instead of watching from a distance, that little cheater's going to get a front-row seat to the show. Now c'mon, we've got wasps to catch."

* * *

Over on the other side of the building, in the second-year dorms, another group of students was having their own private conversation. There was only one rule the group was looking to enforce at this time to keep it secret:  
"No guys allowed!"

Coco's voice echoed through the halls as the door to team CFVY's room slammed shut in front of Shen.

The young man just stood there for a moment, bewildered, before the door cracked open again, with his fashionista friend poking her head out.

"Sorry Shen, but this is something Seph needs to work out with some girls. A boy just broke her would only make things worse." It almost sounded like something plausible to Shen, but he could tell there was one other thing on Coco's mind.

"Also, Velvs and I finally have some other chicks to hang out with, trade beauty tips, gossip. All that girly stuff you really shouldn't be listening to, alright?"

That fit better with what the boy knew.

"Don't worry about her. Velvet and I know how to perk her back up, it's impossible to stay sad with Yang and Nora around, and Blake can… um…"

Shen just raised an eyebrow at that one. He didn't even need to open his mouth to get his point across. Coco simply frowned when her words failed her.

"Eh, she's good moral support. Either way, you worry about your own stuff, and we'll worry about her. Okay? Now shoo!"

The door shut again, much more gently this time, and as the lock on the inside clicked shut, Shen turned towards his own room. He knew he wouldn't be able to argue with Coco about this. He'd known her almost as long as he'd known Errol, and she knew how to perfectly get under his skin and pick apart any arguments he might have, just as he would to her.

So instead, he turned his focus to his scroll, checking any messages he might have had.

Sitting at the top of a pile of spam, ads, and surveys, was a mission request from Professor Peach. Opening it up, he saw that the professor was sending the first years on their yearly trip into the forest of Forever Fall and required a team to go in and clear out any of the older, more dangerous Grimm present in the area. He knew his team, perfectly suited for scouting and clearing, was going to be her first choice. Sephria would allow them to move silently through the forest, while Errol and Andres could bring down just about anything they could find. Shen's own abilities would only serve to better enhance that synergy, ensuring they could finish the job quickly and without major incident.

As he was running scenarios and simulations in his head, he felt a buzzing in the ammo pouch on his belt. Knowing what it most likely meant, Shen hurried to his own dorm, quickly entering, then locking the door behind him. He raced over to his own desk in the room, while reaching towards the pouch. He drew out a smaller black scroll, much different than the standard-issue most students possessed.

Pressing his thumb to a small pad on the device, the scroll opened up, revealing a newly received message.

Opening the message, Shen's eyes grew wide at the sender, someone he hadn't had contact with in quite some time. Returning his focus to what was important, he panned down to the main body of the message and read. The look only became more intense as he read, understanding what it was he was looking at and why he had received it in the first place.

Knowing what needed to be done, he set the scroll down and closed his eyes, reaching out with his aura. His mind stretched out and silent images began to flow into his brain: Weiss speaking in one view, with Ruby off to the side, and in the other, Pyrrha walking away with from the viewer with a purpose.

He exhaled, closing his mind off and letting the images flow away, before he reached for his regular scroll and penned a text to his other teammates. _"I'll talk to Seph about this after she calms down,"_ he thought to himself.

He looked down at the text before he sent it, making sure it wouldn't look out of place to Weiss or Ruby if they happened to read it, before hitting send.

* * *

Across campus, two scrolls rang out with different tunes, both reading the same: _'Got a new mission for the weekend. Also, we need to work on our extra credit project tonight.'_

* * *

 **AN: Wow, it's been WAY too long since I last uploaded. Another volume came and went while I was monkeying about, with some big questions answered, new questions coming up, and an overall great 4th season.**

 **Couple of things this means for the fanfic: some of the details that came out this volume forced me to rethink some of my future characters and their designs. In addition, I came to the realization that my OC's names can spell a color (I was just too dense to see it). I went back to the older chapters and changed a few things, and now Team SABR has become Team SBLE (Sable, as in the black for a coat of arms). A nice contrast to Team STRQ, I like to think.**

 **So, the Jaundice arc (pun completely intended) is going in a slightly different direction, thanks to Andres' interference. Ruby's got some new toys to play with and Weiss has some information to mull over. And Shen's up to something. You'll have to wait for the next chapter to see what he's talking about and how it relates to their mission. But hopefully, we'll be getting back into some action soon.**

 **Dizzy, out!**


End file.
